MLTI VRSE
by VindictiveDunc
Summary: The world of Remnant is in for a surprise, when an unstoppable, unpredictable force of absolute power enters the fray. He's also a little messed up in the head. Let's see how Team RWBY reacts to Duncan the Multiverser when he makes his way to Beacon. OC/Blake/Yang love triangle, might become a three way romance. Just started out writing today, so please just constructive criticism.
1. The Four Fairy Tales

Chapter 1: The Four Fairy Tales

She sits there. Paying respects to someone of great importance to her that has passed away. And here I stand, in the distance, watching.

And feeling like a creeper.

I mean, I'm an eighteen year-old turned I-have-no-idea-anymore year-old just watching a fifteen-year-old at what looks to be a grave marker. And she doesn't know I'm there.

I feel like a horrible person right now.

Her semblance is going off, indicated by the rose petals that seem to fly off her red cloak. She starts to walk away. Finally, I mean still can feel cold, since I often forget that I can just make myself not feel cold what with all my power.

So I follow undetected, having disguised myself as the shadow of a tree. Soon enough she reaches a clearing.

It's filled with, Beowolves, I can't tell. They don't have the white and red bone masks all Grimm possess. Either way they're there, and they look rather bloodthirsty, evidence being that all their teeth are colored crimson. Then they charge her.

The biggest and last mistake they will ever make.

As they are about to reach her she is gone. A flurry of rose petals the only evidence that she was ever there. But they manage to hear a swoosh above them, and look up. She is there staring down at the wolves.

And with that, Ruby Rose pulls out Crescent Rose. And begins to slaughter the creatures.

She is fast like nothing else. Having quickly turned her weapon into a scythe that is way bigger than she is. I will never understand how she holds the thing.

She finishes them all off gracefully, the shells falling from the sky. No need for me to be here.

But, wait. I hear more approaching. I see more approaching. And Ruby looks exhausted.

Why're these ones here? They weren't in the tra- Oh, wait. I forgot. I wasn't there in the trailer. They likely are sensing me as a threat, but all they see is Ruby. And my presence alone can alter reality around me sometimes. Well, I'm one to show off nowadays. Why would this time be any different?

I shed my dark disguise, appearing behind her in the woods. And I pull _Machina_ from its holster. I take aim, pointing it at her back. And pull the trigger.

She already was in a stance to try and hold them off. She wouldn't need to. She hears the gunshot. It's as loud as thunder. But as the bullet is five meters away from her, it breaks into beams of light moving around her, and towards them. Each streak of light is a headshot, none of the beasts are standing.

Ruby Rose was shocked. "What just happened!?" She asks herself aloud. She turned around to where she heard the shot come from, and sees a stranger in a black and red outfit, a hood shadowing his entire face.

"Who are you?" She asks the stranger, loud enough for him to hear. The shadow concealing his face shift enough for her to see the smirk plastered there.

'You'll know soon enough.'

And then he disappeared before her very eyes before she could respond, or run up to him and ask how he got such an AWESOME gun.

Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, stood before a crowd of at least over a few hundred. She was singing a song she proudly composed herself, aptly named _Mirror, Mirror_. Nothing less than perfection was acceptable to her, or her parents. And she knew she was perfect.

Quietly to herself, she feels nervous. But she doesn't show it. She is above that.

And out of nowhere, an odd feeling of confidence fills her, one she felt only recently. She remembers that time.

She is training. A final test before she truly is perfect enough to attend Beacon Academy. An automated suit of armor, larger than any man faces her. And she strikes.

_Mrytenaster_ in hand, she blitzes the automaton, as fast as lightning, using the Dust powered device in her blades hilt to aid her. But then, an imperfection in her movements. Small, but enough for the armor to exploit.

It punched, flinging her a dozen meters backward. The skin above her left eye is cut, bleeding.

'No. Years of training, and a slight misstep ruins this.' She thinks to herself.

But before the despair fully kicks in, a foreign sense of absolute confidence fills her. She doesn't know where it came from, and she finds herself not caring.

She powers _Mrytenaster_ again, and blocks the armor's next blow. Then her stance is absolutely flawless, perfected even. She disarms and defeats the suit even faster than she expects. She idly wonders where that confidence came from.

And now she feels it again. And she feels it emanating from someone in the crowd. Right in front of the stage, sat a, what she assumed to be, young man with a hood. Showing only enough facial features to let her know he is responsible for this sense of sureness.

She quietly thanks him, and sings. She sings perfectly, her voice matching the notes at just the right time. The crowd applauds her with much enthusiasm once she finishes.

She looks for the stranger, but finds that he is gone. No one else but her knowing that he was even there.

She is tired. Tired of the hate her kind is given by others. Tired of her kind only receiving respect due to the fear of a once peaceful organization turned terrorist group. But most of all, she is tired of helping that terrorist group.

Blake Belladonna plans to leave after this one last mission. Whether or not Adam will let her, she would leave.

And so, she and her partner race through the Forever Fall Forest, their target in mind. They find it, and launch themselves onto the top of the train.

They enter one of the cars, and quickly find resistance.

The machines are no match for _Gambol Shroud_. Nor for Adam's _Rose and Blush_. They move the fight outside fast enough, dispatching even more robots.

Soon they are in one of the cars with their objective.

"Perfect." Adam said, unaware of the danger crawling above. "Move onto the next car. I'll set the charges."

"What about the crew members?" She doesn't know why she asks. She knows they're all human. So does Adam. And that makes him care even less.

"What about them?" He coldly asks her.

Before she can object, a larger, arachnid-like mech drops from the ceiling, weapons aimed at them both.

The machine is more than a match for them. It quickly forced them back outside.

Adam asks her to buy him time. Enough for him to ready his aura.

Once she is in the air above the machine, I strike.

_Bright Shadow_ is fast and true, the sound of thunder following the initial attack. The strikes I make not even registering to their eyes. Once I finish my assault, the mech falls apart into many pieces.

I stand there, having already sheathed the sword back into _Samantha_. And Blake is already in position behind Adam.

He stares at me and begins to ask "Who are"-

But before he finishes his question, I jump above his head and stand beside Blake.

He rushes to us, having figured out what was about to happen.

Blake is too shocked by my arrival to strike between the cars, so I do it. But not before I warn Adam.

"Do not follow." I stated.

The sound of thunder is heard again, and the train cars separate.

Once Adam is no longer in sight, Blake turns to me. Obviously she had questions. Her intention was to leave anyway. But she really didn't expect a complete stranger to help her.

"Who are you?" She asks me.

I let more of my face be seen underneath my hood, enough for her to see my green eyes.

"I'm an impossibility allowed to exist." I told her.

"I don't understand."

"You will in time, _my fair lady._"

And with that, I disappeared before her very eyes. Leaving her shocked with the tenderness in my voice as I said that.

'Goddamnit, this club is bright. You don't need this many neon lights in a dance club.' I thought to myself.

The owner of the club, a man named Junior, asked if I should be here. I responded with animalistic growl. He got the message to fuck off pretty quickly.

He was still close by, speaking to local crime boss Roman Torchwick, i.e. his boss. I knew what I would do with that problem eventually.

As Torchwick leaves, a rather, um…. buxom young woman with long, flowing golden hair approaches. The twins near Junior also leave.

Yang Xiao Long approached the bar. "Strawberry Sunrise, no ice. Oh. And one of those little umbrellas." She ordered.

"Aren't you a little young to be in this club, 'Blondie'?" Junior asked her. You'd think he wise up to don't underestimate a person after my little intimidation tactic. He's not very smart.

She giggled "Aren't you a little old to have a name like 'Junior'?" She asked in return.

The conversation went as it was supposed to, right up to the point where Yang grabbed him by the balls, which still amuses me, right to when she tricks him into trying to kiss her.

Once he tried, he was met with a well-placed punch to his nose, flinging him into the bar. To add insult to injury, I "dropped" the glass above his head, shattering on impact with his cranium.

"Oopps." I said.

Yang's brawl with the goons went uninterrupted as I quietly finished my beverage. Once I heard the DJ get offed from his perch I decided to join in. Just sitting there was boring anyway.

"Melanie, who is this girl?" Miltiades Malachite asked her twin sister.

"I don't know Miltia, but we should teach her a lesson." Her sister answered. Then I stepped into the mix.

"And what's up with this guy?" Miltiades asked.

I looked back up at Yang. "Which one do you want?" I asked her.

She raised an eyebrow, then said "I'll take the uppity one."

"That doesn't really differentiate." I sighed after looking back at the twins and back to Yang.

Having enough of being insulted, the Malachite twins charged, Melanie taking on me, and Miltiades taking Yang.

They mostly used their legs to strike at us, and were easily parried. Soon enough they were both tired out. Once that happened, the spotlight was on Junior, showing pieces of glass in his hair.

"You're gonna pay for this." He stated. Then he proceeded to fire at us with his Bazooka.

Yang used _Ember Celica_ to fire at each mini-missile, while I used _Machina_. Eventually, Junior rushed at us, changing the Bazooka into a bat. He managed to hit Yang while I evaded the blows.

This only amused her. Activating her semblance with a smile, she charged the idiot. Her rapid, shotgun-assisted blows breaking the Bat-zooka. Unfortunately, he still got some of her hair.

Knowing what was about to happen, I braced myself for the inevitable meltdown. And once I heard Yang's roar of utter rage, then came the explosion.

With both Yang and Junior out of the now decimated club, I decided to take my leave. I had one more destination in mind.

Outside the club, with its owner on the ground, Yang Xiao Long and her sister Ruby Rose stood.

"Yang? Is that you?" Ruby asked her sister.

"Oh. Hey, Sis!" She responded.

"What are you doing here?"

"Ugh, it's a long story. Speaking of where's that one guy?" Yang asked looking back at the club.

"What guy?" Ruby asked. Was Yang seriously picking up guys in the middle of a fight?

"There was this guy helping me out in there. He wore this black and red hoodie, couldn't really see his face." Yang answered her sister. She was confused at the look of shock and excitement on her sister's face.

"IS HE STILL THERE!?" She might finally see what kind of guns that guy had.

Yang quickly checked through the windows. "No, he's gone."

"Aww."

"Mind telling me where you saw this guy?"

"It's a long story."

Professor Ozpin, the head of the prestigious Beacon Academy, didn't know what he was dealing with. This didn't annoy him overmuch, but he really didn't know what to make of this.

He was walking down the streets, when out of nowhere, this hooded young man approached him. He didn't seem aggressive, so Ozpin allowed him to come forth. When he reached him, the stranger said he was trying to apply for Beacon but couldn't find where he could send his application.

Ozpin said he could review them once he got back to the school. The boy smiled and simply said great. Then, with a snap of his fingers, the strange young man teleported them both to his office.

He didn't really know what to make of this.

"So you want to join my school and learn how to hunt monsters?" Ozpin asked him.

"Yes."

Aw, what harm could it do? "Well, I think I can overlook an application this one time."

"Could you do it for one other guy too? His name is Jaune Arc. He'll likely try to give fake transcripts, bot he's got a lot of potential. He's worth it, I'd say."

"Well, alright. But, I've had yet to hear your name."

The stranger smiled and removed his hood revealing a young cleanly shaven young man with unruly short brown hair, and green eyes holding no small amount of mischief. He held out his hand.

"Verser. Duncan Verser, at your service."

And Ozpin shook Duncan's hand.

**Whoo. This was the longest one so far. I have to admit, I might pay a bit more attention to this particular book in my Multiverser series. Monty Oum was just too good in making RWBY awesome. Which reminds me. I forgot to write this before, I won't again. I, in no way, shape, or form own RWBY, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, or any other video game or movie I use or reference. I am only paying tribute to these awesome stories. Again, rate, review, and constructively comment. Until next time, this has been VindictiveDunc, and I'll serve your glorified, over-powered, self-insert, crack-fic needs later.**


	2. A Beacon Shines Even Brighter

Chapter 2: A Beacon Shines Even Brighter

**Aw man. No one's really commenting. And I need those comments to know if I'm doing well. Aw well. Maybe this chapter will garner some.**

**I don't own RWBY. That privilege belongs to Monty Oum, and Rooster Teeth. Nor do I hold any claim to any references or quotes you find that I use that you can find. Now, without further stalling, on with the story. **

It hadn't taken much to convince Ozpin to just accept me into Beacon, just asking worked. I just chalk it up to him seeing me as a curiosity. Randomly walking up to him in the middle of the night and then teleporting us both to his office obviously made an impression.

I opted to enter the school among the other students via air ship. "Coincidentally," I was on the same air ship as Ruby and Yang. But, for now they wouldn't recognize me. I never let any of the girls see all of my face, and I wasn't wearing my hood or leggings, a simple black turtle neck shirt and faded jeans and black combat boots. And _Bright Shadow_ needed to look different too. It looked like a much simpler looking katana in a plain sheathe instead of the proud onyx colored pistol sword it was. _Samantha_ also had to look plain, not the sheathe that turned the sword into a rifle.

Having to disguise myself for now was a personal choice, but dammit, I hated not showing my weapons the way they were meant to be seen.

'No one will ever understand how hard it is to freeze a star in the middle of a super nova in time to forge it into a sword like no other.' Damn my stupid need to make my grand appearance a big deal.

The news is on the screens, first talking about the robbery Ruby thwarted led by Torchwick. Then it goes into how a peaceful Faunus protest is ruined by extremist Faunus group, The White Fang. Before they can give a brief history on how the Fang came to be, Glynda comes on screen.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch."

As she gives her short speech to all the new students, I just snicker to myself. Privileged few. I literally just asked if I could go to school here, and the headmaster said 'Sure.'

After she finishes, I along with every other student on the ship walk up to the windows to see Vale from a bird's eye view.

'Oh, there goes Jaune. Right toward the bucket. Ohh, that'sss nasssty.' Yeah. I'm gonna have to straighten him up. I wonder how he'd react if he found out Ozpin knew about his fake transcripts and still let him attend thanks to me asking him.

'Aw, well. I'll save that info for when I'm ready to humiliate Cardin when he's starts to try and blackmail Jaune. In fact, I'm probably going to become his primary target with how I plan to treat him. Oh, won't that be just adorable.' I thought to myself sarcastically.

"Oh, Yang, gross! You have puke on your shoe!" I hear Ruby exclaim. Followed by…

"Gross, gross, gross….!" Yang adopts as her mantra as she starts hoping around one foot, trying to kick the gunk of her shoe while Ruby keeps telling her to get away from her.

Not long, we land the ship. Jaune's already at the trashcan.

"Just let it all out. Just let it all out." I say to him as I carefully pat him on the back then go about my merry way. I decide to take a seat on the bench and check out my phone real quick. It being my only link left to my home reality, I try to make sure no one else ever sees it or what's on it. While I'm surfing the web, I can hear Ruby fan-girling over every weapon she sees pass by. Soon enough, her sister leaves with her own friends, disorienting Ruby as they dash away.

'You know, I still don't get how all the extra people still look like silhouettes to me. It's really creepy.'

I see Ruby fall down onto a load of suitcases. That would mean Weiss comes in, right, about…

"What are you doing!?"

Now.

As the "ice princess" begins to reprimand Ruby, the dust particles coming from the case and bottle she's holding are entering Ruby's nose. 'Shouldn't it really hurt when she'-

"ACHOO!"

'….. Sneezes fire?'

The bottle of red dust flies up in the air until hits the ground and rolls into a certain Faunus-in-disguise.

'Ah. There's Blake. Reading, like she usually does.' I mentally note.

"Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!" Weiss still manages to yell at Ruby.

"I'm really, really sorry!" She pleads to the heiress.

"Ugh! You complete dolt! What are you even doing here?" And she still rages on.

As the one way argument goes on, Blake manages to quietly walk up to them both, dust bottle in hand.

'Hey, I said I was sorry, princess…" Ruby tells Weiss off. As she does that, I put my phone away and walk to the girls.

"It's heiress, actually." Blake says as she reaches them, none of them noticing me walking towards them. "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

"Finally, some recognition!" Weiss exclaims, under the assumption Blake respects her right now.

"The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners." I say, stealing Blake's line as I reach the group. Which amused Ruby and confused Blake as she was just about to say those exact words.

"Wha-! How dare-! Where did you even-? Ugh!" She exclaims as she grabs the bottle from Blake and storms off.

"I promise I'll make this up to you!" Ruby calls after Weiss.

"Guess I'm not the only one having a rougher stay. So, what's…?" Ruby begins to ask as she turns to Blake, who is already quite a distance away. She then collapses onto the ground. "Welcome to Beacon…" She sighs. Jaune is already there helping her up.

"Hey… I'm Jaune." He says as he helps her up.

"Ruby." She told him. The snickers. "Aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?"

"You know, I'm still here. I exist too." I told them both.

"Oh! Sorry! I didn't notice you there. I thought you left like that other girl."

"You know, I'm tired of people never noticing me. It makes me cry myself to sleep at night." I told her, not really meaning that at all. Unfortunately, Ruby isn't so good at interacting with others, so she actually believed me.

"ON MY GOD! I'M SO SORRY!"

"….Ow, my ears. And I was just joking." I told her while relaxing my pained ear drums. She can be loud when she wants to.

"Oh. Right. I knew that."

"I'm Duncan, by the way. So, what're your names?" I asked them both as we searched for where we're supposed to go.

"Well, like I already said in front of you both, I'm Jaune Arc." Jaune introduced himself to us both.

"Yeah. Vomit-boy." Ruby snickered.

"Hey! Motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on!" He pleaded.

"Look, I'm sorry. Vomit-boy was the first thing that came to mind."

"Oh, yeah? What if I called you Crater-face?" He asked, annoyed by only being associated with barf.

"Hey that explosion was an accident!"

"Hey! Stop the lovers quarrel! Both of you." I said, deciding to just try and speed things up a bit.

"Yeah, well, the name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it." He said anyway.

"….Do they?" Ruby asked.

"Not really." I said.

"They will! At least, I hope they will. My Mom always said-"

"Jaune my boy, here's a life tip. When you're trying to act like a lady-killer, don't stutter like that or add your mom into your justification. Doubt yourself, you must not." I wisely told him.

"So…" Ruby starts to say. "I got this thing." And brings out _Crescent Rose_ in its scythe mode.

"Whoa! Is that a scythe?" Jaune asks.

"It's also a customizable, high-impact sniper rifle." She told him.

"A wha-?"

"It's also a gun."

"Oh. That's cool!"

"So what've you got!?" She asks him, excited at the chance to see more badass weapons.

"Well, I've got this sword."

"Oooooh."

"Yeah, I've got a shield too!"

"So, what do they do?" She asked, accidentally causing that shield to start switching from shield to sheathe a few times in the air.

Once it was under control, he answered "Well, the shield gets smaller. So when I get tired of holding it, I just, put it away."

"But, wouldn't it weigh the same? Ruby asked.

"Yeah, it does." Jaune lamely confirmed.

"What about you, Duncan?" Ruby asked me.

"A high-frequency sword."

"…What?"

"It vibrates to do extra cutting damage, allowing it to cut through any object. Living or otherwise."

"Awesome. Can I hold it?"

"Sorry. I made it so that it hurts, even kills anyone but me if they try to hold it. It would take a while for me to set it for you or anyone else to hold." It was true. No one steals my stuff.

"Overkill much?" Jaune asked me.

"No such thing when it comes to someone as crazy as me."

"So, where are we going?" Ruby asked, trying to change the creepy subject of me being kind of a psychopath.

"Oh, I don't know. I was following you two." Jaune said.

"We're supposed to head to the main courtyard. Don't worry, I know where it is." I told them.

"Great."

And that's where we went. Once we got there, Yang quickly noticed her younger sister.

"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot." She called out.

"Oh! Hey, I gotta go. I'll see you two later!" She told us, then ran off to Yang.

"Hey, wait!" Jaune cried. "Ugh, great. Where am I supposed to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?" He complained.

"Jaune my boy, I'm gonna teach you how to live." I told the blonde swordsman, wrapping my arm around his shoulders. "It's gonna be Legen- Wait for it. - Dary! LEGENDARY!" I exclaimed.

"It, uh, it is?"

"Yeah. And it starts off with a little game I like to call 'Haaaaave you met Jaune'?" I said as I swung him face to face with Pyrrha Nikos.

"No. I don't believe I have." She said, having heard the title of the game I told Jaune.

"Great! I think I'll leave you two together for now to get to know each other." I told them and began to leave. Jaune tried to call out to me for help but stopped when Pyrrha started to talk to him. 'It was obvious in the show they're gonna get together. Might as well speed it up a bit.'

Soon I found Ruby, in her sister's arms as Weiss had just overheard Ruby mentioning her.

"Oh God, it's happening again!" She screamed.

"You're lucky we weren't blow off the side of the cliff!" Weiss yelled.

"Oh my God, you really exploded." Yang commented.

It went from Ruby apologizing to Weiss again, Weiss giving her the Dust for Dummies pamphlet (I could still hear it in that high-pitched voice in my head), to Yang trying to mediate.

"Look, uh, it sounds like you two got off on the wrong foot! Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?" She reasoned.

"Yeah! Great idea, sis! Hello, Weiss! I'm Ruby! Want to hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies!" She asked. That wouldn't work.

"Yeah! And we can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys like tall, dark, and jerk-face over there." She sarcastically told the young girl, pointing at me at the end.

'Okay, now that's just hurtful.'

Ruby didn't pick up on the sarcasm, and asked the heiress "Oh wow, really?"

"…NO."

Thus began Ozpin's speech. It went as it was supposed to. Then Glynda came and told us all we'd sleep in the ballroom tonight and that initiation came tomorrow.

It was a pretty uneventful night. It went the way it was supposed to for the most part. Provided that I told Jaune to ditch the onesie pajamas and I was added to Ruby's list of friends. Oh, I spoke to Blake for couple minutes, unintentionally annoying her as she just wanted to read. She was okay with me as I seemed to be more, mentally refined, than some of the other people she met.

Oh, dear Blake. If you only knew.

Soon enough, morning came, except I decided to sleep in until we needed to get to the cliffs. Didn't need to keep my weapons in a locker, I could just mentally make them appear.

Once I made it to the cliffs, everyone was already there. Ozpin and Glynda were already explaining how partners would be assigned today, which caused a cry of indignity from Ruby... After the explanation, Ozpin asked "Are there any questions?"

"Do we need to have partners?" I tiredly asked instantly. The other students were looking at me, wondering why I would be stupid enough to want no help.

Glynda did not look amused by how I didn't seem to be taking this seriously, evidenced by how I looked like I just woke up. Which I did.

Ozpin didn't seem to care though. "If you somehow manage to make it to a relic without making eye contact with any student, then technically no you won't Mr. Verser. Keep in mind, I'll likely still have to assign you to a team that is made at the end of this initiation." He answered.

"Well, that makes this easier." I then stepped off the launch pad.

"Any particular reason you're not using the launch pad Mr. Verser?" Ozpin asked me.

"Launch pads are overrated." I told him as I stretched out a bit, walking towards the cliff. All the students were still wondering what was wrong with me.

"(Yawn) Time to get this stupid disguise off at least." I said aloud. Everyone, minus Ozpin, seemed confused at that. And I decided to have some music play as this happened, which confused people even more as they could hear it. Then, my clothes and sword changed.

**Queue "Sharp Dressed Man" by ZZ Tops**

My turtle-neck morphed into my black and red hoodie, the silver hidden blade gauntlets on my wrists. The jeans and boots morphed into the ninja leggings I preferred. And finally, my weapons returned to their true appearance. _Bright Shadow_, still sheathed inside _Samantha_, changed back into the black, straightened pistol katana it was and its sheathe made it appear as though a high-tech rifle was dangling at my hip. And _Machina_ appeared on the opposing hip.

Although my hood was down this time, the girls of the soon-to-be-team RWBY recognized me instantly.

"YOU!" All four exclaimed instantly.

"Well, it was nice formally meeting you four. I'll catch you on the flipside." I said, as wings started to form from my back. They looked neither angelic nor demonic. They looked as though they were cut out of the star-lit night sky and attached to my back.

Then, I jumped off the cliff, and soared into the Emerald Forest, leaving everyone dumbfound. Minus Ozpin, whom just drank more of his coffee.

**Well, I enjoyed writing this chapter. And I hope you, dear readers, enjoyed reading it. As for the background music. I may or may not keep doing that. Probably will be rather rare when that happens. You know the drill. Rate this fic, review this fic, and give your thoughts to it too. If you don't, I'll still keep updating, but it will feel better if I get more feedback. VindictiveDunc, out. **


	3. The Emerald Forest Isn't That Green

Chapter 3: The Emerald Forest Doesn't Look That Green

**Okay. A little more feedback and a couple handfuls of views and follows. I'm feeling confident about this. Shout out to** **Johnwolf234, who seems to have taken a liking to my new series. I will try to update Multiverse Effect after this chapter just for you my good man. If you think I own RWBY, any of its characters or anything else in this fic aside from me, the main character, well, I'm flattered. But, sadly, it isn't so. Now more of the story.**

'What. The. Hell.' Were Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose, and Weiss Schnee's thoughts.

Here they were, about to begin their initiation to Beacon, when the lazy swordsman they just met yesterday turns out to be the mysterious stranger they had all individually seen the past few months.

Blake was shocked, and was blushing a bit, remembering the _'my fair lady'_ comment he said a couple months ago.

Yang was intrigued. She was still a little wary, this guy having seemed to have me her little sister before her. But the intrigue overwrote that for the most part.

Ruby was outraged. She finally meets the guy, and she still doesn't get a closer look at his badass arsenal.

Weiss, well, she still appreciated the small help he quietly gave her a few months ago. 'But why did he have to be a jerk in person.' So she was just suspicious.

"Now, any more questions?" Ozpin asked the remaining students, not even acknowledging the boy that just sprouted wings from his back while music played around them, which got quieter the farther he got.

"Um, sir. I've got, uh, a, question." Jaune tried to ask.

"Good!" Ozpin said, just as the Blonde swordsman finished his sentence. "Take your positions."

All the remaining students, after composing themselves, took up their stances to prepare for launch. Except for Jaune, who still tried to voice his question to Ozpin.

"So this, landing strategy, thing? Ugh, what is it? You're like, dropping us off or something?"

"No. You will be falling."

"Oh. I see. So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?"

"No. You will be using your own landing strategy."

"Uh huh. That."

Unbeknownst to Jaune, all the students to his left had already all launched as he tried to not get shot up into the air. And was about to be flung in…

"So, uh, what exactly is a landing strategyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!?"

Now.

Once all the students landed, the four girls that Duncan took to aiding all thought…

"I need to have a word with Duncan."

Back with Duncan, he was still flying thanks to his Night-Sky Wings, far away from the others eyes and Sharp Dressed Man just finished its second and last guitar solo.

"Yeah, that song was a better choice than my original idea." I said to myself out loud. "I'm probably gonna have to land sometime soon."

With that thought, I dive-bombed into the ground, my fist softening the blow for me, and creating a large crater in the earth.

"Probably just overdid it a wee bit." I noted.

Not letting myself get distracted by the sheer awesomeness of that landing, I walk toward the temple, where all the pieces laid. Which, by the way, was ten meters away from where I landed. Grabbing the white king piece, I walked over to the ruins that future Teams RWBY and JNPR would end up at. First, I sat myself up on a pillar. Then, I waited.

I wasn't a stranger to waiting. I could keep myself distracted for hours on end with my phone. And besides, when your conscience has existed for over seven trillion years all by itself, you tend not to care about waiting for a few hours.

And thankfully, it was only like, two hours until I saw the others. Death Stalker and Nevermore in tow.

'And there's my queue.'

Once they reached the bridge, I pulled a Weiss, as in I erected a wall of ice between the two groups and the enormous scorpion. It wouldn't hold for long.

Seeing as how that was weird, random, and didn't come from Weiss, there was only one explanation. My lovely voice being heard above them confirmed their suspicions.

"Well now, isn't this familiar. You four are in trouble, and I, the mysterious hooded man watching (from a distance) is here ready to lend a hand."

"Yeah. What's up with that anyway?" Yang asked me.

"Drama. I'm strange like that. And even you have to admit, the times you four saw me, I looked awesome."

"You are so full of yourself." Weiss interjected.

"And damn proud of it."

With that, the Death Stalker broke through the ice wall, me already on the ground, in my combat stance and shooing the others away into safety.

The first twelve strikes came from the monster, using its claws and stingers to try and vivisect me. Eventually, I decided to throw it a bone before I killed it. So, I move my sword so that it seems like I'm gonna block the stinger, but it's a little bit above the tail's target. And with that, the tail goes right through my chest.

"DUNCAN!" The girls scream. 'Aww, they really do care.'

I stare down at my chest, not fazed even the slightest by the gore, and grab the tail and pull it out. Now, the hole is still there, leaking blood. And the others are watching in morbid fascination as the huge gaping hole closes and the fabric of the jacket stitches itself up.

The Death Stalker, shocked by this (that is going in my feats book) just stands there. At least, until I start slamming it into the ground by the tail with one hand. A lot like how the Hulk did to Loki in The Avengers. Then, I started spinning around, and release the arachnid into the air. Once it's a ways up, I jump up and start slashing with the sword. The amount of blood flying around me was quite a bit sickening. Not to me, of course. But to everyone else, well Jaune definitely threw up. The more stoic members of the group were just wondering why I was overdoing it.

I'm back on the ground, flicking the blood off my blade with one swing. The giant bird, seeing me as the only real threat right now, starts launching, feathers?, at me.

"Aw, you use your feathers as weapons. That's cute."

I quickly form my wings again and take to the skies. I'm just floating there, holding a staring contest with the big raven. Just staring.

And staring.

And staring.

And, yes, you guessed it, still staring.

Then shouting.

"_**YOL TOOR SHUL!"**_

With those few words, the bird is now ashes, flowing in the wind. Then I just land in front of the two teams.

"Well. That was a thing." Said Yang after a few moments.

"We could've taken them." Ruby says, contradicting what they all thought earlier, even though they actually could have and would have had I not intervened.

"I know. I was just bored." I deadpanned. With that, the whole group face-palms. Except for Blake, who actually managed to sneak up on me while I was grabbing one of the Nevermore's feathers. 'This is SO gonna be my new pen.'

"So. '_My fair lady_', huh?" Was all Blake said.

'Oooooh crap. I'm never going to hear the end of this.' I thought to myself as my eyes widen and a blush spreads across my face.

"Russell Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Skye Lark." Ozpin announced to the aforementioned students in front of the rest of the school. "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forth, you will work together as, Team CRDL. Led by, Cardin Winchester." Ozpin told the new team of bullies. Next up was Team JNPR.

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie…." He began.

Meanwhile, I and what was about to be team RWBY stood waiting for us to be called up to the stage, being the last students. And I'm trying to avoid Blake's teasing. I mean, I like her, but I didn't expect a stoic girl like her to be capable of making a guy like me blush this much. And I've lived in a Japanese HRPG without batting an eyelash to the majority of all those girls.

And the things they'd do. Whoa! They'd make any serious chastity ring-bearer spin their heads, let me tell you.

After Team JNPR was formed, the girls stepped to the stage.

"Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long." He called. "The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward you will work together as, Team RWBY. Led by, Ruby Rose."

Yang instantly hugged her little-turned-team-leader. Weiss was shocked, she expected herself to be leader. And Blake was indifferent.

"And finally, Duncan Verser." Ozpin called out. 'My time to shine.'

"I must admit, I didn't expect you to not get a partner. Regardless, you retrieved a white king piece, alone. From this day forward, you will be, Unit VRSE."

"Thank you, sir."

"However, you still need to work with a team. And given how you seem to know them so well already, you will work alongside, Team RWBY. Congratulations, Mr. Verser." He said.

'Work… with Team RWBY?' I turned around to face said team.

Ruby seemed excited. I can only assume she's looking forward to having me show her my weapons to give her an idea how to improve her own.

Weiss looked in between thoughts. She didn't really seem to trust me, but she looked like she wanted to give me a chance.

Yang was giving me this look. I'm pretty sure I know that look. And it was both awesome, and concerning.

And Blake. She was giving me a similar look. It was only different due to how she looked as if she knew she already had power over me.

And dammit, she does.

"Looks like things are shaping up to be an… interesting year." Said Ozpin.

"Oh, you're telling me." I said, loud enough for his mic to register.

Meanwhile, in the city of Vale. Crime Lord Roman Torchwick was at his current base of operations. He looked as though he was having trouble with something after hanging up his cell phone. He sighs.

Then, a member of the White Fang enters the room, carting a large container. Torchwick flicks a stack of Lien in his hands a couple times and lays it on the table for the Faunus to collect.

"Open it." He tells the man. And he does so.

Inside is a large number of dust crystals. But not enough for whatever their plans are.

He turns back to the strategic map of Vale on the wall. Arrows are pointing toward Beacon as their primary target. He sighs again.

"We're going to need more men." The criminal states.

Meanwhile, I'm there in the back, hidden where no one sees me.

'Your plan may need more men Torchwick. But, come a few weeks from now…" I make a death motion with my thumb.

"You won't be one of those men." Was all that I said.

Then I disappeared, returning to my new dorm next to Team RWBY's at Beacon.

**And the plot thickens. I am on a roll. Like I said at the beginning, I'll try and update my Multiverse Effect fic by tomorrow or the day after at the most. If anyone has anything constructive to say about how I'm doing, please do so. The short comments are great, and they encourage me to keep writing. But I need to know that I'm doing well with more than just a few words. Until next time, I'm VindictiveDunc, and THIS….. is the best Fan Fiction site ever. Later.**


	4. The Badge and Burden of being me

Chapter 4: The Badge and Burden of being me

**Holy Crap! Over one hundred people have checked out this story within three days! Sure, not as many are following, **_**commenting**_**, or marking it as a favorite, but I'm new to this. So is that stopping me from writing so much right now? No, it is not! Will I keep writing until my fingers get sore? Most definitely! I do this for you, whether or not you want me to! I am not Monty Oum. Therefore I do not own RWBY or its characters. Enjoy.**

It was a beautiful morning at Beacon Academy.

The sun was rising. The birds were singing. Team RWBY was sleeping soundly in their beds for a little bit longer. And music was starting to play.

…Wait a minute. Music was starting to play?

"_Woke up this morning,_

_To a girl, half-past dead."_

Uh oh. Looks like Duncan was already up. This wouldn't end well.

"_So I rode… Back… Over into… Comatose."_

"Oh. You're definitely going to be in a coma when I'm through with you, Verser!" Came Weiss' voice as she just woke up to the music her teams extra member was blaring at six thirty in the morning. If the music didn't wake up her team mates, her voice most certainly did.

"It's our first day of school, and I can't sleep in because this guy decided to blast music this early!" She ranted while getting up to give Duncan a piece of her mind.

"Weiss! Lighten up already! We need a little extra time to decorate our room anyway." Yang tried to tell the girl.

"I don't care! It's a matter of principal! If we don't stop this now, he'll keep doing it!" She instantly told the boxer as she was already at the door, the others starting to follow her.

They had to agree with her reasoning. If they didn't get him to stop, he would keep his music playing loudly in the morning. So they went to the dorm right next to theirs, music still playing. Once they reached the door, they found it locked.

"Verser! Open up right this instant!" Weiss yelled as she started slamming on the door with her fist.

He couldn't hear them, obviously. The music was too loud. Unbeknownst to them, the song was about to end.

Blake pushed Weiss out of the way and began to pick the lock. It was easy enough. Once they opened it up, they found a rather, different sight.

Duncan had already decorated his room, making it appear as though it was a mix between a man cave, and a geek's lair. A couple game consoles, a DVD player, a large flat-screen TV, a shelf of movies and video games they'd never heard of that seemed to be about super heroes and the like, black dressers and desk, and the walls had writing on them (quotes, by the look of them). That wasn't the strange thing.

Duncan playing an air guitar and lip synching as the song was ending in his pajamas? That was what was strange.

"_She said, 'Strap back, I'm about to attack!_

_Strap on your goggles and get ready to react,_

_To the venomous words, that slip through my teeth._

_Roll out the window and crash into the streets.'_

_(She'll find me.)_

_When the grass grows tall, creeping and crawling through the shadows on the walls,_

_And I'll find you!_

_If it's the last thing, the last thing, the last thing that I do!"_

As the music started to fade, Duncan opened his eyes and saw that he had an audience. He stared at them for a few seconds, down to his nonexistent guitar, then back at them.

"I…don't have a good explanation for this." I told awkwardly told the girls.

"Nice moves there, Rock-Star." Yang commented with a smirk. Blake was also smirking at me. 'Great. Like getting caught wasn't bad enough. I get caught by my four team mates, two of which seem to have set their sights on me.'

"Whatever. You need to stop with the loud music." Weiss said after composing herself a little.

"Why?" Was all I said.

"It's keeping us all up, that's why!"

"Shouldn't you be decorating your room anyway?"

The argument went on for another minute, until…

"Duncan. Please don't play your music in the morning." Was all Blake said.

"…Yes, Blake." I said, backing down almost instantly.

Having accomplished what she came to do, Weiss went to go change into her school uniform, as did Ruby. Blake and Yang however, decided to stick around.

'Oh, lovely. So this is what a normal teenaged boy feels like in high school. Powerless, completely powerless around all the girls.' I think to myself. I'd seen attractive girls when I went to high school, but they didn't actually cause anything really significant in me. I just didn't really care. It was rather lonely.

Now, I've had a few girlfriends when I was in my original reality, but I use the term 'girlfriend' loosely. The first was an on and off one when I was too young to understand relationships. The second, one blind movie date and a few phone calls. The third was also a blind date, but couldn't show. I wasn't really that smooth with women.

'And that lack of experience has come back from the grave to haunt me. Just great.' I thought.

"So, Duncan…" Blake started to say. "Would you have kept doing this kind of thing had we not intervened?"

"On and off again. Maybe just to piss Weiss off a little."

"Nice." Said Yang.

"So are you two gonna, like, stay here, or something? Cause you two just standing in my room, all of us in our PJs, is a little bit strange." I said after a few moments.

That got a bit of a blush on both their faces. 'YES! Finally! A little payback! I can make them uncomfortable too!'

Yang seemed to hear that line of thought and quickly retaliated. "Would that be such a bad thing, Duncan?" She "innocently" asked me.

While not something she would normally do, Blake decided to help get the immortal teen all riled up too. "I mean, we ARE young. Curious about things."

"What she said."

"ARGH! BOTH OF YOU! OUT! Before a blood vessel pops!" I exclaimed while pushing them out of the room.

With them gone to go decorate their own dorm, I had a little free time on my hands. I really lucked out when I got a dorm all to myself. No one seemed to use this one in the show anyway.

A couple hours of guy time and then a quick morph of clothes, and I had thirty minutes to spare before my first class started.

'Professor Port's class. This will be… No. No, I can't even joke about it. It's gonna suck. A lot, going there to hear a lecture about his over exaggerated exploits when he was younger and beyond simply sub-par jokes.' I thought.

The rest of my team still cut it close. Once they got here, they took their seats next to me. Then, something only comparable to an hour at a DMV, began.

Hell on Earth. Well, on Remnant. But who cares.

I managed to look like I was listening the whole time, so that was something. Meanwhile, Ruby was entertaining herself which was causing Weiss to have trouble keeping herself from blowing a gasket.

'I used to be like that. I can _still_ be like that.' It sucks to see how you used to act and see that you had a huge pole stuck up your ass for the majority of your life. 'Oh well. I got better before I died anyway.'

However, Weiss was about to lose it. That would lead her to trying to show off as a means to assert dominance over Ruby as the better Huntress. But, would I allow someone else to show off aside from me as a means to try and soothe their wounded pride?

'Not in this life, you great, big, Tsundere.' I thought, wearing a huge face-splitting grin.

"The moral of the story?" Port asked the class. "A true huntsman must be honorable. A true huntsman must be dependable. A true huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise."

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

"I do." I said as I already started to stand up taking off the blazer and rolling up my sleeves.

"Well then. Let's find out, shall we. Step forward, and face your opponent." He said and directed my gaze to the caged Grimm.

Weiss was peeved I called out first, but held her tongue. The other girls just cheered me on.

"Go Duncan!" Said Yang

"Fight well." Blake encouraged.

"Yeah, represent Team RWBY! Well, Unit VRSE, who is part of Team RWBY!" Ruby cheerfully ordered.

"Yeah, sure thing. I'll get right on that." I said, trying to focus on the incoming fight.

"Alright, let the match, BEGIN!" Port exclaimed as he broke the Boarbutusk free from its cage.

It went right onto charging me as soon as possible. I just side stepped it.

"Ha ha! Wasn't expecting that, were you?"

I was, actually.

It charged again. This time, I front flipped over it. Before it could go further, I turned around, reached over its back, grabbed the tusks and held it in the air.

"Duncan! Go for its bel"- Ruby began to shout to me. Before she could finish that thought, I shoved my hand through its armored back and pulled out its lifeless heart. Then crushed it.

"…Ly?" Ruby finished with a sweat drop.

I drop the monster then try to shake the blood off my right hand.

"That was excessively violent and rather needless." Port said. "I like it!"

The majority of the class didn't though. I then looked up at them. "It's not like I ate the heart or anything! Sheesh."

They conceded to that, and their unease started to fade.

"Besides, that heart had much thicker blood in it. It would've gotten stuck in my teeth."

Then it came back even worse at the thought that I seemed to have eaten hearts in the past. Other than that, nothing else happened as the class ended shortly afterwards.

The day started to end pretty quickly. I could only assume Ruby was talking to Ozpin while Weiss spoke to Port, both receiving important lessons. I was going to add to the wisdom with sympathy and past experience. Not that I would tell them about those experiences in exact detail.

I managed to find Ruby first.

"What's up Ruby?"

"Nothing. Just thinking about some things."

"Wanna talk about them?"

"…Weiss doesn't think I'm a good leader."

"Let me tell you a little story, Red."

I lean against the wall to get comfortable for this.

"Once upon a time, there was this boy. He spent his entire life dreaming to become a hero. Always thinking how great it would be. The thing is, he never worked toward it. He spent his days just thinking of what it would be like. And one day, he lucked out. He got much more than what he needed to be a hero, but at the cost of the life he once led. This saddened him, big time. Years were spent just doubting himself. And it could be easily noticed by others. He wasn't good at dealing with all the new responsibilities thrust upon him."

"Then, one day, he learned that he couldn't allow any doubts to form in his head. Allowing that would be worse. So, he committed himself to doing everything to the best of his abilities and beyond. And in doing that, people looked up to him. 'The hero that shouldn't have been.' And you know what? He was a damn good hero."

"But, what does this have to do with me?"

"Ruby, you're a leader now. You don't have the 'privilege' to doubt. People depend on you. You do the best you can, always pushing yourself to do better. You will fumble. You will make mistakes. In time though, people will search for someone they can look for when they need to hope, and you will be that someone."

She stared at me for a few seconds… then a smile slowly appeared on her face. Then, she hugged me.

"Thanks, Duncan."

"Yeah, yeah. Run along now." I said as I awkwardly hugged back. After that, she moved to return to her dorm while I moved to find Weiss.

Before I could do that though, she turned around and asked.

"Hey, Duncan? What made the boy stop doubting himself?"

I stopped in my tracks, unable to turn around. Then, I answered…

"…Some stories, aren't meant to be told for a while." Was all that I said, before I left to find the heiress.

Soon enough, I found her. She was obviously a little down after her lecture from Port.

"What do you want, Duncan?"

"To add my two Lien."

"Oh, this should be good." She mumbled.

"I won't lie. Port's right. Your past of always getting what you want has soured your attitude. And that hinders your progress."

She wasn't exactly pleased at that note.

"But let me tell you about this guy that had everything you could ever dream to have. Anything he wanted, he got. But, he had a very difficult job. Always got harder to cope with, mentally at least. Then, he lost his cool for a brief time. In that time, he lost something he treasured more than anything else he had. And it broke him."

"Eventually, he managed to learn how to deal with what he had lost. But, the wound still lingered inside him. He would never be able to forget. And it haunted him for the rest of his days."

"What are you trying to tell me?"

"Weiss, you can't expect having everything handed to you to be able to just make you perfect. It's the work you do to earn those things, to earn that respect, to earn the help of those who care about you, which makes you perfect. If you fail to understand that, you'll find yourself a broken shadow of your former self, with no one to pick up the pieces for you."

"…I think I understand."

"Good." Then she proceeded to look for Ruby.

'Thank God. Hugging still feels weird to me.' I thought and went to my own room to sleep.

Duncan was unaware, however that Blake had heard his little story to Ruby, and tried to catch up and talk to him, only to find him giving another life lesson to Weiss.

One thought went through her mind as he left.

'He was talking about himself.'

**Wow. That actually got rather dark and depressing at the end. If anyone's wondering what that song was at the beginning, it's called **_**Comatose**_** by **_**Whiskey Kills the Butterflies**_**. I think the band might've broken up, but they had some good songs. Check them out when you get the time. Now, am I doing well? Please tell me. If you don't, I'll **_**Skin You Alive**_**… Another one of their songs. And I won't actually do that.**


	5. Multitasking

Chapter 5: Multi-tasking

**With the way I've been writing these chapters, in MLTI VRSE anyway, and the fact RWBY hasn't gotten a new episode yet (I think, have to check later), expect a couple filler chapters. If that's not your cup of tea… I don't know what to tell you. Here you go.**

Inside Duncan's room, laid a quickly thrown together workbench. He was in there, as was Ruby. And _Crescent Rose_ laid on that workbench getting a 'wee' bit more anti-anything.

"What kinda caliber does it use?" I asked the red hooded girl.

".308."

"Not good enough. First, we'll have to replace the barrel with something a little wider in diameter. I'm hoping it'll still be easy for you to get your hand around it."

"What kind of rounds should we use now then?"

"I'm thinking 50mm, should do the trick. I know you're strong enough to handle the recoil this baby will have."

"… 50mm will make any Grimm I use it against explode, with little to no resistance. WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THIS?"

"That in mind, I recommend never using it as a firearm against people. Monsters, robots, vehicles and the like are free game. But try to avoid using it on actual thinking beings."

"I try to avoid that anyway."

"Yeah, I know." I started to say. "But you have a tendency to fire it while it's a scythe to make you even faster or to add extra kinetic damage when you hit people. With the strength it's going to have, it's an anti-tank rifle. Like I said, that would be just cruel to use on people."

"Sure thing. Now I'll go get the metal to forge the new barrel! This is gonna be sweet!" Then she left to do that.

'I can be something of a gun nut now… But she scares me sometimes.' "Gun Nut" was pushing it. What I really knew about actual firearms came from my life as The Lone Wonderer in the Capital Wasteland and as The Courier in New Vegas, especially Vegas. Thankfully that knowledge seem to work out just fine here.

'But damn is it going to hurt for Grimm when they die. She seems happy though. And besides…'

Chicks dig Cannons.

In the sparring room of Beacon, Weiss Schnee stood prepping herself for what might have been a mistake on her part.

"WELCOME TO DRILL SEARGENT VERSER'S BOOTCAMP OF PAIN!"

Yep. Definitely a mistake.

"Do you have to yell like that?"

"Yes! And each time you back talk, things WILL get worse."

That wasn't a cheerful thought.

"Now! I've noticed your tendency to charge blade first when a battle begins. The stance itself is well-done, if a slight bit rushed at times, but it has to be."

Weiss knew it was, she took pride in how she fought.

"The problem is you try and strike first too often!"

There was no room for pride here.

"When you attack first, you give your enemy a better idea of how you fight. Even if you switch styles, trying to throw him or her off will get harder as each new stance is seen in action. Striking hard, fast, and as often as possible to keep your enemy on their toes is good and all. But you tire yourself out pretty quickly doing that, and I can tell your stamina isn't that massive." I told her.

"Well, what do you suggest?"

"…Get into your stance." She did so.

Giving a mental command to _Bright Shadow_, the blade morphed to look more like a fencing sword. I took a position ten feet away.

"I'm going to attack first. When I do that, don't attack back. Keep yourself on the defensive for now. Try and get me to wear myself out, and if you can find a weak spot in my movements, use it. Until that happens, don't do anything else."

Two hours later and Weiss did manage to knick me a couple of times. She still lost, but I could see an improvement in her stance and style already. She had a while to go still for now, but I had faith in her.

'Besides, a little 'boot camp' to help make her a better fighter and hopefully respect others faster should do her some good.'

At nice, quiet, mostly secluded area in Beacon, sat Blake. She was reading, mostly to try and get her mind off what she suspected of her team's only male member.

She wasn't going to confront him on this, or even let him know that she knew for now. She was betting that he would open up eventually. She didn't feel she could really judge.

She wasn't exactly proud of everything she'd done in the past, the biggest thing Duncan helped her escape from.

"This seat taken?"

She looked up to find that he was standing right there.

"I don't think so. Suit yourself."

"Ninjas of Love, huh."

"Shut up."

"Sorry. Couldn't resist." He said, smirking as he sat down.

"So what's new with you?"

"Nothing much. I try to avoid anything really extravagant most of the time."

"So did I, if you can believe it. And look at me now."

"I'm shaking just trying to keep my gaze off you."

"You know, you can be mean Blake. See this spot here?" He said, tapping his chest. "It hurts right there."

"You'll be fine."

"So, hear about those dueling sessions we have for class in a bit?"

"Yeah. Yang's looking forward to that. I think she wants to fight you at least once."

"I'll bet. Should be fun."

It was a nice, comfortable silence for a little while after that. Then I had to tell her…

"You know, you're going to have to tell them at some point? That bow won't be able to hide them forever."

"…I know."

"A good eye can still notice if they twitch."

"I know."

"Blake?"

"Yeah?"

"You know, they will accept you, regardless of what you used to do. Your hope for equality, and accidentally winding up with the wrong crowd, didn't make you a bad person. They'll see that. And if they don't at first… They will soon after. Because you're a good person Blake."

She paused at that, letting it sink in. Then she answered.

"I know. Thanks, Duncan."

And they sat there and waited for their next class.

Yang has won every fight she has ever fought. This is something that has always been a source of immense pride for her. That and her hair.

And no one stayed in one piece for long when they messed with her hair.

"The next match will be between Yang Xiao Long, and Duncan Verser." Came the voice of Glynda Goodwitch.

Now everyone had heard of Yang and her skills in close-quarter combat. To say she was good was a serious understatement. Her only problem was her temper.

That wasn't to say she was someone to always walk softly around. She was actually quite mellow. But if she ever got angry, her flaming aura always came out and her fists hurt even more. And messing with her hair always caused that.

I could tell she was looking forward to this. Ever since she found out I was the guy that helped her out in Junior's club, she was itching to test herself against me. I was actually quite fond of that idea.

'Thankfully, she won't be able to flirt with me. She HAS to keep her thoughts on just fighting me.'

We were both up on stage. I decided not to use my sword or pistol. This was gonna be fought hand-to-hand. Much more fun that way.

"You ready for this, Hot-shot?" She asked me.

"Like you wouldn't believe."

"Begin!" Glynda shouted.

She ran at me first, _Ember Celica_ already primed to try and cause me pain. Every blow she made, I parried. We kept ourselves moving all across the stage, just trying to score one actual hit on one another. She WAS good.

I decided to push things quite a bit.

Once again, she ran at me, her smirk clearly shown. As soon as she got near me, I spun myself around her.

_Shinct_

I still had my hidden blades, even if I didn't have my sword.

At that sound, Yang instantly turned around. I was at the far end of the stage, something was in my hand.

It looked like a large chunk of blonde hair.

"…you…"

She was speechless as I just smirked.

"…You…"

She closed her eyes.

"_**YOU BASTARD!"**_

And opened them, showing them to be crimson instead of lavender. She may have had a thing for me, but right now? She just wanted me dead.

"_**I'LL KILL YOU!"**_

Yep. Real dead.

The flames spread around her, like hell just came out of her. And she used her aura to launch herself at me.

Before her fist could make contact with my face, I grabbed it.

All rage aside, that shocked her. No one could ever do that.

After that, she kept trying to take me down, her aura making her all the more dangerous. But, she seemed to be in control of herself right now. She was still beyond pissed, and it showed. But she wasn't yelling or anything. Just trying to KO me.

I decided it was time to end this. Knocking her back one more time, I activated my own 'semblance.'

I looked like one of the background people in the show. Just a silhouette. Only, my eyes could still be seen, and it was more like I myself was cut out of the Star-Lit night sky, like my wings look.

We charged at each other.

Our fists met.

Again, and again, and again we did that. Finally, Yang did it one last time, putting all her strength into the punch and then some. I charged as well.

When our fists connected, the heat could be felt throughout the entire building. There was a huge blinding light. When it faded, everyone saw us locked in position. Fists still connected.

A few seconds passed.

Then Yang fell down, exhausted.

"The winner is, Duncan Verser. Do try to avoid damaging the arena this much again you two." Glynda told us. I looked around. We really totaled the stage.

I moved to help Yang up, my true form fading away, but she just batted my hand away. She got herself up and started to walk away.

"Hey, Yang." I called out.

She turned around, probably to curse at me. Before she could, she quickly caught what I had thrown at her. She quickly looked at it, and found herself disbelieving.

It was the hair that was in my hand. And it was just fake clip-on hair. She looked back at me, eyes wide, anger replaced with shock.

"You mean you didn't…?" She started to ask.

"Nope. I'm just a serious troll."

After a couple seconds, she closed her eyes, sighed, smirked and said.

"Good one. You really got me. But don't do that again."

I'd done my part. And now I knew that she could have a better hold on her little berserker mode. I'd have to help her with that later.

Later, we were in the locker room. Ms. Goodwitch explaining how our rocket propelled lockers worked. I was sticking close to Jaune, not really listening, as I still had no need of a locker.

Even one with rockets on it.

As she was explaining how six-digit codes helped give destinations for a locker, Cardin used that knowledge. At least, he tried to.

He grabbed Jaune, and stuffed him into his own locker (cliché) and stared punching in a random code. Before it could fire off, I stepped over and put my hand on top of the container, keeping it inside the school. Then I reached over and pressed abort. And Jaune got out.

"Ugh, thanks Duncan."

"No prob, bro."

Cardin wasn't pleased at his fun getting ruined, and tried to look intimidating to me. In response, gave myself this look. In this look, I gave the impression that I was a serial killer waiting to happen. All that I'd need was for one little thing to set me off. He backed down, thoughts of vengeance in his head.

'Idiot doesn't know I can read his mind.'

"Jaune. You need help."

"Why would you say that?"

"That ass-hat just pummeled you in the last match. Therefore, you need help."

"No, I do"- He started to say.

"Mondays and Thursdays, after class."

"O-okay." He conceded.

"And bring Pyrrha."

"Why?"

"She'll be positive reinforcement. I'm tough love."

He gulped once I said that.

"SO! There we were, in the middle of the night…" Began Nora Valkyrie.

"It was day." Lie Ren corrected.

"We were surrounded by Ursi..." She said.

"They were Beowolves." He corrected

"Dozens of them!" She cried.

"Two of them." He sighed.

We were in the cafeteria as Nora described her dream, her longtime friend correcting her. I was thinking up a training regimen for Jaune while everyone else ate. I stopped once Jaune and Cardin became the prime topic.

Said bully was in the back, bullying a young bunny-ear Faunus girl. I think her name's Velvet. My fists clenched, remembering when I got bullied big time as a kid.

"Guys! Really! Its fine! Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me- And why is Duncan getting up?"

I couldn't hear what they said after that. My focus was on Cardin right now.

I was in a Heath Ledger mood right now.

"OW! That hurts!" The girl cried as Cardin pulled her ears. "Please, stop."

"I told you it was real!" "What a freak."

"Ah ha ha ha, oh ha hee hee ha ha, oh ah hee hee ha." The whole room started to quiet down as I mocked laughed. "I thought I was an asshole."

"What do you want Verser?" Cardin asked.

"To kick your ass. But that's beside the point."

He let Velvet go. "Any reason why we shouldn't kick YOUR ass right now?"

"How 'bout a magic trick?"

This was perfect. I pulled out a pencil and slammed it into the table.

"I'm gonna make this pencil, disappear." Dove walked over to remove me. If you've seen the movie, you know what happens.

"TA DA! It's, ahh it's gone." There is no noise. It looked like I just killed him.

"What is wrong with you?" Cardin finally asked after standing up.

"Lots of things. Just you right now."

"You're dead."

"Not yet I'm not." I lunge toward him, grabbing him by the neck and bring my hidden blade to his face. I've already quoted the movie once. Why stop now?

"You wanna know why I'm so messed up?" I ask. "My father was, a drinker, and a fiend. And one night, he goes off crazier than usual. Mom gets the kitchen knife to protect us. He doesn't like that. Not. One. Bit. SO! Me watching, he takes the knife from her, laughing the whole time. He turns to me, heh, and he says 'Why so serious'!?" Cardin is terrified now.

"He comes at me with the knife. 'Why so serious!?' It right in front of my face. "Let's put a smile on that face!' Then…" I look around and see everyone watching, stunned. "Why so serious?"

I instantly retracted the blade and go "Oggitty boggitty!" Right in Cardin's face. He and the other two run off, to hide or report me, it didn't matter. I then walk over to the others. Jaune says first.

"What is wrong with you!? You just killed one of them!"

"Did I though?" I say as I pull out a pencil. Jaune walks over to Dove, turns him over and sees he's only unconscious and has a black eye.

"Oh, thank God." He sighs.

"You didn't have to do that, you know." Blake says. "He might've deserved it, but you could get kicked out for causing a panic. You could have been more cautious."

"Caution's nothing to guys like them. If a man plays the fool, only fools will leave him be. But, appear to be the devil? And all men will submit." Blackbeard is awesome.

"And you'd be the devil?" Weiss asks.

'Oh my God! I can't stop.'

They see that was the wrong thing to say as they saw a look in my eye. I pull out a large feathered black hat with fuses from nowhere and put it on my head.

"…For an audience? Yeah. It's all a gig you see." I walk toward Jaune. "Give men something to fear. Some, HELLISH thing, from a fevered dream. And men will drop to their knees, PLEADING FOR THEIR LORD, **BEFORE ALL ELSE!"**

"H-help me." He weakly says.

"It's a horrible tactic, but it works." I calmly say as I turn to them.

"Sure seems to with you." Yang says.

"Course it does." I say then take off the hat and put it on Jaune's head.

"Well, I'm off to Ozpin to tell him what happened. Don't worry. I won't get kicked out. I've got a silver tongue."

They all just stare as I leave, still wondering what just happened.

…**I quote too many things. Hope I don't get sued or reported. I'm thinking about drawing my Multiverser character as he appears in all the different worlds I put myself in. Probably will put it up on Deviant art first or something. Then make cover images for these stories. If not I'll see if I can get it up some other way. I'll be starting my Dragon Age book soon. The first chapter should be posted within the next two days. Keep reading. You have no idea the effect it has on me. Review while you're at it too, please. Exit, stage away from laptop.**


	6. Forever Falling into Madness

Chapter 6: Forever Falling into Madness

**Wanna know something cool about the hooded jacket I wear in these fics I've been writing? It's real! You can actually purchase one on Amazon and all that jazz. Just type in Modern Connor Kenway hoodie. Mine should be here in a little over a week. Cosplayers, unite!**

**You all seem to be enjoying this fic, evidenced by almost 600 views. Thanks for that by the way. Commence the reading, NOW!**

This. This was a true test of my skills. I've been putting my complete focus on this one thing. This, will show what kind of man I am. I make my move. Then Ozpin makes his.

"Checkmate."

"Damn it! I was so close too!" I wasn't. Ozpin was really good at chess.

I had told him about the incident a few hours ago. My negotiating skills worked. For the next three months, every other day I'd have to help around the school and double the length of my current assignments in each of my classes right now. I'd have fainted and opted to take any other punishment had I still been in my original reality. Better than getting expelled I suppose.

After that, I saw his chess set and asked for a friendly game. This was the seventh loss I've had.

"How do you do that?"

"Just predicting every move you'll make each time you move a single piece."

Should have played more chess in the past.

"Also, people say I cheat. 'I have no idea why they always say that.'"

My head shot up at that. 'Oh, you're good. But I'll get you someday!'

"Well, Oobleck's class starts soon. I'd better get to that. See you later, Professor."

Man. Dr. Oobleck moves and thinks fast. I better get used to that. I'm going to meet Mordin Solus in one of my other lives. 'Difference is he's naturally hyper. Oobleck just drinks a lot of coffee.'

"This is prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus War, Human kind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie."

He also was quite the supporter for Faunus equality. So I had a lot of respect for him.

As for mankind keeping the Faunus down? I actually wasn't surprised whatsoever. Humanity's history just about everywhere I go, unfortunately, mostly consists of racism and the oppression of others throughout the centuries.

That, and war. Humans are very good at war.

A sad day when one can expect cruelty from a whole race, even if there are people among them who are different.

"Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?" He asked the class. There were only a few Faunus in the room. And aside from Blake, they all rose their hands. I scowled. 'I hate racism.'

"Dreadful, simply dreadful. Remember students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence." He then drank more coffee, and continued his lecture.

Jaune really shouldn't be sleeping right now. I'd have to adjust his after class training to allow him some rest once he and I start. And I'll have to start a study group. If he gets called to answer any question, he won't get any right.

And Cardin didn't the message I'd given him apparently. He was still screwing with Jaune. He simply knew I couldn't do anything to him thanks to my current punishment.

However, I had an idea how he was going to try to "make me pay." And self-defense was an exception to any punishment.

The bully made a paper football and flung it at Jaune, waking him up.

"Hey!" He said at the contact.

"Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! Excellent, excellent! What is the answer?"

"The answer uh… the advantage, uh the Faunus had over that guy's… stuff… was…" I and Pyrrha were trying to give him hints. Her making hand signals, and me blatantly mouthing the words 'Night-vision.' He was horribly interpreting us though.

"Night-vision goggles!" He exclaimed. And the class laughed. Pyrrha and I both just face-palmed, I was louder though.

Oobleck wasn't amused though. "While you are close Mr. Arc that is still wrong. Cardin? Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject?"

"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal, than a soldier." In response to that, I growled like an animal. Which made Blake really shocked, and…? 'Oh, I'm not looking! I'm not looking!'

"You're not the most, open-minded of individuals are you Cardin?" Pyrrha asked.

"What? You got a problem?"

"No. I have the answer. It's just Night-vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly perfect sight in the dark." She said.

"General Legume was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the General was captured. Perhaps if you'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure." Blake said, looking at Cardin while finishing. 'Good. She got a handle on herself.'

"You could learn a lot from that, Winchester." I added.

He got up and looked at us three with hate.

"Mr. Winchester, please take your seat." Oobleck sighed. Jaune was snickering at that. Unfortunately, the teacher heard. "You, Mr. Arc, and Mr. Verser can see me after class for additional readings." Jaune groaned.

Once class was over, we three were still there. Then the History teacher said…

"You two have been struggling in my class since day one." He told the other two. "Now I don't know if it's a lack of interest, or just your stubborn nature. But whatever it is, it stops now." He firmly ended.

"You've worked hard to gain entrance to this school and we only accept the best of the best. So, I expect you to act like it. History is important, gentlemen. If you can't learn from it, you're destined to repeat it. Pages 51 to 91, I want an essay on my desk by next class. One from you as well, Mr. Verser. The headmaster already called ahead and informed me of your punishment. Now, run along."

"Pyrrha was waiting for Jaune at the end of class. Blake was there too, waiting for me? I didn't anticipate that. Cardin just walked away, frowning.

Pyrrha was already taking Jaune to the roof. I'd have to get there quick to help Jaune with the problem he was about to have, but Blake had something to say.

"Duncan, can we talk sometime? Soon? There's some things we need to discuss." She said. What did that mean?

"…Yeah. No problem. My door's always open to you. Except when it's locked, and you then proceed to pick said lock." I had a feeling I knew what she wanted to talk about. I felt the same for her, despite a growing affection for Yang at the same time. But, she gave the impression there was more to it than that.

"Thanks. I'll talk to you later."

I passed Pyrrha on the way to the roof. That means Jaune already spilled his 'secret' to her. And that Cardin overheard. I quickened my pace.

"Don't worry Jaune. Your secret's safe with me." I heard Cardin say as he climbed down, back to his team's dorm. I could see Jaune mortified at the guy knowing he faked his way into Beacon. I silently walk up to him and say…

"Jaune, sometimes you make some serious mistakes."

"AH! No, not you too. How many heard that."

"I just got here. I have to say, I get the feeling you're going to try and skip our training sessions. And that you didn't get Pyrrha either."

"No, I didn't. I want to show that I have what it takes, and I need to do that alone."

"Thinking that way is the stupidest thing one can ever do. Every great hero has always fought alongside others when they needed to, and learned from the experience. And I've met many a hero, been one of them too often times." Not that anyone around here will ever know that.

"And now Winchester's got you on a leash. We're going to have to cut it, real soon. After that happens, you're apologizing to Pyrrha."

"How do you-?"

"I saw her, looking depressed, on the way up here. Dammit Jaune, she likes you, _like likes_ you. And whatever you just said to her, hurt, badly. Don't bother talking to her right now. Wounds too fresh. It'll heal quickly, as long as we play our cards right."

"How am I supposed to get Cardin to stop then?" Good. He was starting to actually accept help.

"For now, go along with him. Make him think he has you under his thumb. I assume he started off with telling you to do his assignment for him? I'll do it, I already finished the book a couple weeks ago so I've got time. I'll make it seem like it's all correct information, to him at least. To Oobleck? He'll fail it instantly. I've also got a little information to really help, but it's a surprise. Especially for you."

"For me?"

"Yeah. Now let's go. We need to sleep."

Back at Team RWBY's dorm, Blake just entered the room.

Only Yang was there.

"Where've you been partner?" She asked.

"Nowhere. Just coming from class. Where're the others?"

"I think they're doing a little extra studying in the library."

"Ah."

They stood there for a few moments in silence. Then Yang broke the ice.

"Blake." She sighed. "We need to talk about Duncan."

"I… don't know what you mean." Said Blake.

"Look, I know you like him. It's pretty obvious. And I think he has some good thoughts about you too."

"But…?"

"But, I'm sorry. It's just… I like him too, you know? He's got this thing about him that says he knows how to get you to like him. But, he holds back. Instead, he tries to play it off as him just being a big goof. With some rather extreme habits and methods."

"I know what you mean. And from what we all have seen, there's a lot more to him than he's telling us. I think he's hiding something, but not because he doesn't trust us. And, I guess you and I have really been wanting to figure it out, huh?"

"Yeah."

The two stare at the ground, no idea where to go from this.

"Are we… are we going to start hating each other over this? Because, I really don't want us to fight. I like us being friends." Yang said.

"Me too. I… don't know what we should do about this. I've never really been in a situation like this before."

"Neither have I, but I know it usually never ends well."

"I think… I think we should just think this over for a while. There's some things we both need to get off our chest to him. We should talk to him first before we tell him how we feel. Then, we'll see what happens."

"But, no matter what happens, we'll still be friends, right?" Yang asked Blake.

"Yeah, we shouldn't let this get between us as friends and as team mates."

"Besides… there's always the off chance we could share him, right? It'd be fun to see his head spin if we came to that conclusion."

"I'll agree with you on that."

And so the two team mates prepared to sleep. No matter what happened between them and their team's extra member, they wouldn't let it get between them.

And that was a fact.

It was a week since Jaune started getting blackmailed. I already gave him the essay to give to Cardin, Oobleck was still grading them all. Now we were closing in on our fieldtrip to the Forever Fall Forest.

I also noticed this thing going on between Blake and Yang. It wasn't competition, thank the stars, but I had a feeling it still concerned me. I'd let them go at this at their pace though. It would be stupid of me to force this to a conclusion.

I was in my dorm, watching an old Batman movie. I could overhear Ruby and Jaune talking outside. Ruby seemed even more "unreasonable" with Jaune than in the show. 'Guess my little story made an impression on her.'

I paused the film and decided to tell Jaune what I needed him to do tomorrow to get Winchester off his back.

"Hey, it's your buddy Cardin." I heard over Jaune's scroll. "I know you're probably busy with that dust project I gave you. But~ I'm gonna need you to go out and get me a bag of rapier wasps. And make sure they've got some really big stingers. It's important, so don't screw this up."

"I see this is all coming to a head finally." Came my voice, shocking him.

"So, what now?"

"Tomorrow, we go to the forest. Whatever Cardin needs those wasps you're gonna get, it'll be tomorrow that he uses them. I assume me and Pyrrha will be targets. He'll likely tell you to do whatever it is he wants. When that happens, which I know it will, he's going to make me the first one you do it to."

"What do you want me to do?"

"I want to you to listen to him, and do it to me. I know he'll target me first. He despises me. I'm a 'freak' who keeps getting the better of him. Once that happens, I'll handle the rest. You won't have to worry about him anymore. I promise you that."

"Okay." He said. Then went off to get the aggressive insects.

The next day, we were in the forest. Professor Peach wanted us all to collect a full jar of red sap each from the trees. Cardin hauled Jaune away. 'It's just about time to end this.'

I stuck as close to them as possible, I needed to be sure they could see me when Jaune had to throw a jar at me. The wasps wouldn't hurt me.

Pyrrha still looked rather depressed. I knew it hurt, but it would all be fine soon. And she'd be there to help Jaune every step of the way throughout his stay here at the Academy. I hoped the two of them would be happy when they finally got together.

Guys like Jaune deserve some happiness in life. And it's a shame not many ever did back where I came from.

They were already in position, I could tell. I heightened my hearing to ensure that'd I'd be who they go for first.

"Duncan?" I heard Jaune ask Cardin.

"That's the one." He growled. "Stupid hood, crazy, and thinks he can get away with everything."

Bingo. I knew he couldn't resist.

He handed Jaune a jar to throw at me. But, Jaune still hesitated. I couldn't let him.

'It's okay. Everything will be fine Jaune.' He could hear my voice in his head. 'Now do it.'

And he did.

As soon as the sap hit me, they let loose the wasps. I let them get to me.

The others were horrified. They looked up to see Jaune had thrown the jar, Cardin and his gang laughing the whole time. I was 'screaming' the whole time.

"Jaune! How could you do this?!" Pyrrha screeched.

Slowly, my screaming stopped. Then it was replaced by a growing manic laughter.

"…hehehehehehehe…AH HAHAHAHAHA **HAHAHAHAHAHA!**"

The wasps seem to melt away as they stung me. I was grinning, much like Alucard from Hellsing Ultimate. Then I looked at the bullies.

"Using Jaune to strike out at his friends? A pathetic tactic, Cardin. And look at this. It didn't work. And you wanna know the really funny thing?" I asked. While doing that, I commanded the cells in my body to imitate the Mercer strain of the Blacklight virus and changed my hands into claws.

"The funny thing is your information on Jaune wouldn't have worked anyway. Ozpin already knows about the fake transcripts. I told him myself months ago. And Jaune is allowed to stay, thanks to yours truly." The look on his face was priceless.

"And now? Now you just blackmailed a fellow student into assaulting another student. What do you think your punishment's gonna be, hmm? I bet it will be just as bad as that Ursa Major walking up behind you."

They turned back to see the Ursa was there, and it looked very vicious. Cardin was paralyzed with fear as his team fled. He was on the ground, the jar in his hand spilled onto him and attracted the beast.

"Jaune! You need to kill that thing! And fast!" I called out. "And remember to use your shield."

'Pyrrha.' I said within the confines of her mind. 'Give him a boost if he needs it.'

He did. But man was it glorious to see that huge bear get decapitated.

"Good job… warrior." I called out to Jaune, the claws disappearing.

As Pyrrha told the others how her semblance was polarity, Jaune was ordering Cardin to never threaten him or any of us ever again. After what happened today, I knew he wouldn't. Too scared.

As the bully left, Jaune turned to me and asked…

"Is…is it true? Ozpin already knows?" He quietly asked.

"He does." I confirmed. "I asked him to let you attend anyway because you do have potential. Goodwitch already knows, she might not be happy about it, but she's accepted it."

"I-I don't know how what to say."

"Say you're sorry to Pyrrha. Then get ready for training in a couple of days. She and I will make a hero out of you yet." He let out a small smile at that.

Yang and Blake had got Goodwitch. Jaune was explaining the situation, and what I told him to do to catch him in the act. While he was talking to her, Pyrrha, Weiss, and Ruby walked up to me.

"Okay, Duncan." Weiss began. "I don't know how you apparently knew that Jaune faked his way into this school. But, I won't ask about that right now." Good. I don't think they were ready for that yet anyway.

"But…" Ruby started to say. "This whole time we've known you, you've done things that no one, no one, can do."

"What is your semblance?" Pyrrha finished.

"Reality. Reality is my semblance is what you can say." I told them. "Anything I can think of, I can do. The fabric of possibility is mine to shape how I see fit."

"Such a power has never existed before." Pyrrha stated.

"And it's unlikely you'll ever meet another like me. Don't be mistaken, there are others like me. But I've had yet to meet any of them. Some of the people who do have the power I have, remain unaware of it indefinitely. But, as soon as they discover the potential within themselves, the power they hold will be quite massive indeed."

I left them on that note. I had to explain myself to Goodwitch. Cardin would be punished, along with his entire team. Justice, no matter where I go, does exist.

The Vytal Festival would be soon. I don't know what will happen right now, but I will soon enough. The future lays itself before me as it writes itself.

I was confident I and the others would be able to handle whatever came next. And any other challenge afterward.

**Okay. I'll be frank. Laziness prevented the first chapter to Verser Age: Origins. I won't lie to you about that. The cover images will be up soon as well though, so that's something. But, my new classes start tomorrow. So MLTI VRSE might and my other projects might become harder to update. Just a warning. But holy crap! Over 700 people have read this! I love you guys! In a total manly way though. Seriously though, you guys are cool. And more comments! I'm starting to get them. Just like I told ResurgentClone about Multiverse Effect. If you guys have any ideas, I'm willing to hear them out! I want to know your thoughts! Am I doing well or am I not? I ask this in each chapter of my fics. With that in mind, I hope you all do well, and have had a great start off to the year 2014. I knew 2012 wouldn't happen. It was disproved long before the date happened. On that note, I CALLED IT TOO! There was a second calendar! And we're still alive today! See you around folks!**


	7. Alone No Longer Dousing the Torch

Chapter 7: Alone No Longer/ Dousing the Torch

**I… actually don't have much to say right now. I'm glad people are liking this? Yeah, let's just go with that. Here's chapter 7. It's a bit more serious than I try to go for usually.**

Ahh, the Vytal Festival. It was… it was…

Actually, I don't know a damn thing about the Festival whatsoever.

Which really sucks. This reality was just starting to take shape. All the major history was still rather unknown to me. I'll only learn stuff ahead of time as the original world is shaped.

I hated that. But there wasn't much I could do. **(A/N Monty really needs to start Volume 2 soon. I and other fans are really getting anxious.)**

Team RWBY and I were walking through the streets of vale. I had finished all the extra homework according to my punishment, so life felt good. Weiss was smiling and admiring the work the people were putting into preparations.

"The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!" Said Weiss, and it was really creepy to see her smile in person.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much Weiss… It's kinda weirding me out." Ruby noted. And we all agreed.

The heiress then went on about how the festival was incredible. How it showcased all the cultures of their world. And that a lot of planning went into it. The explanation was taking quite a bit of the fun out of the whole event for Yang and Ruby.

"You really know how to take a good thing and make it boring." Yang said.

"Quiet you." Retorted Weiss. We made our way to the dock, soon after.

"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?" Yang asked everyone.

"Ah, they smell like fish." Ruby said, holding her nose.

I honestly had no problem. I grew accustomed to blocking out the smell of fish during my time in Venice alongside Ezio Auditore da Firenze. And boy did it stink there during that age. Beautiful city, but air fresheners would have made it all the better.

"I've heard students from Vacchia will be arriving by ship today. And, as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom." Weiss answered.

"I think that's her way of saying spy on them." I said to the others.

"Ugh, you can't prove that." She said, turning to me.

We then noticed the police were looking through a crime scene. A dust shop. I think it was the same one Ruby saved a couple months back.

"What happened here?" Ruby asked one of the officers on the scene as we reached the store.

"Robbery. Second Dust Shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle." Was all he said. Then he walked over to his partner.

"Ugh. That's terrible." Yang said.

The officers were discussing possible suspects. The only ones they had were The White Fang. In retrospect, it really didn't make sense. So I assumed they were a little biased to Faunus, which pissed me off.

However, they were right. And I could do nothing to put a stop to the whole operation, not yet at least.

"Hmph. The White Fang." Weiss started. "What an awful bunch of degenerates."

Blake took some offence to that. "What's your problem?" She asked.

Weiss and Blake argued about the subject for a little while. Weiss didn't necessarily sounded like she hated Faunus, but it could be interpreted that she did. And The White Fang was a touchy subject for Blake.

She was once one of them.

She thought the original cause was right; Equality between Mankind and the Faunus. She did not, however, agree with what it had been twisted into now; which was harming Mankind to get their way. It was why she left. And why I helped.

I liked people who stood up for what they believed in. And know when what they are doing, does not align with those beliefs.

"So they're very misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they'd rob a dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale." I heard Blake tell Weiss once I started listening again.

"Hm. Blake's got a point. Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago… Maybe it was him?" Ruby pointed out. And she was right. He was involved rather heavily.

But not for much longer. I'd see to that.

"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum. Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal." Weiss said. It was really starting to get to the only Faunus here.

"That's not necessarily true." Yang said.

"Hey! Stop that Faunus!" We heard from the docks.

'Perfect timing, Sun.'

Said Monkey-Faunus was currently evading the security of the ship he was a stowaway of. I could tell he was purposely staying in sight just to mess with them. I do it too.

Of course, I have _always_ tried to uphold the- Pfft! Who am I kidding? I'd broken a lot of laws across multiple realities. And never got caught.

"You no good stowaway!" One of the guard yelled.

"Hey! A no good stowaway would've been caught! I'm a great stowaway!" He called back.

The cops from earlier tried to get him to give himself up. He threw a banana peel at one's face.

Using his rather impressive agility, he made to our level pretty fast. While running from the cops, he gave a quick wink to Blake.

I didn't like that wink. In fact, I kinda hated that wink.

"Well Weiss… you wanted to see the competition. And there it goes." Yang told the heiress.

"Quick." Weiss ushered us. "We have to observe him." Then we chased after him.

I was much faster than them. I could easily catch him. Besides, I wanted to… talk to him.

Now I was still sorting out my feelings for Blake along with the ones for Yang… But if there was one I could still be in our situation, as much as I hated that part of me, it was definitely territorial.

In my pursuit, I passed a bright orange-haired girl. 'That would be Penny.' I thought I felt something fall out of my pocket and Weiss crashed into the girl at this point. 'Can't worry about that now. Male instincts are in control.'

He avoided the cops by climbing up to the roofs, but he didn't avoid me.

"Oh God, won't you just give it up?" He said looking back at me.

When he turned back to look ahead, his face made impact with my chest and he fell down.

"What the-? How did you do that?"

"Magic." I said while crossing my arms. "Now, I'd like to talk to you."

"Well since you asked so nicely."

"First off, that girl you winked at a few moments ago? No. Just, no. She and I are still in the process of sorting things out. So right now? No."

"Okay, I get the message." He said holding his hands up. "You're obviously the jealous type."

"Yeah I am." I instantly confirmed. "Second? Nice job back there." And held my hand out to help him up.

"Thanks. It's always fun to mess with those kinda guys."

"Never gets old, does it? The banana peel was a nice touch, if a bit too childish I think. Still funny."

"Call it a calling card. I do it all the time."

"Well, that's… all I wanted to say, I guess. See you around?"

"…Yeah, you know what, I think you will. Sun Wukong, by the way." He said, holding out his hand.

"Duncan Verser." Then he left.

I caught up with the others. Weiss and Blake were already well into their argument. I tried to intervene, but Ruby and Yang thought it'd be best if I didn't go in the room while the fight was so hot. I stayed outside their door though. I could listen in.

I didn't like feeling so useless right now. I might've been able to quickly patch things between the two. They were friends.

And the tactical side of me didn't see a need to use Blake and Sun to find Torchwick. I knew where he'd be and when in two days. It was the part of me that still cared for other sentient beings that kept me there. I liked having a connection with them.

The two were loudly going back and forth. The subject of pure evil, discrimination, and terrorism constantly came up. Eventually Blake told Weiss the only reason the White Fang do what they do is because of people like Weiss.

"People like me?" She asked Blake.

"You're discriminatory!"

"I'm a victim!"

She then laid out her past childhood bare before the others. The White Fang had long since made the Schnee family and their associates primary targets. And it made for a very rough childhood on her end.

"You want to know why I despise The White Fang!?" She asked Blake. "It's because they're a bunch of liars! Thieves! And murderers!"

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!"

I winced. That shut Weiss up. It was silent for a few moments.

Then the door slammed open, and Blake rushed off.

I looked inside and gave a hard, but not angry, look at Weiss, then ran after Blake.

By the time I got to her, she was already at the statue in front of the school. Her hand was up at her bow, and revealed a small pair of cat ears.

"Blake?"

She turned around, tears in her eyes. I said nothing else as I walked up and hugged her.

"Not like this." She softly cried into my chest. "I didn't want them to find out like this."

"It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault. Things were said, but that doesn't mean either of you meant to hurt one another."

"I should've listened to you. I should've let them know I was a Faunus at the very least. Then Weiss would have instantly got the hint to stop insulting my heritage." She continued to quietly say.

"It doesn't matter now. You need some time away from them. Let things cool down a bit."

She nodded, there was logic in that.

"But…" She looked back up at me. "Don't ever put that bow back on. You look way better without it."

She stared at me for a few seconds, then she started to lean into me. 'Wait… Was she gonna-?'

"I agree. You do look better without it."

She stopped once she heard we had company. We turned to our right to see Sun, sitting atop one of the pillars.

She and I quickly separated. "Great timing, Sun. Truly."

"Well, I aim to please."

"We should go." Blake said. "I… I don't feel like staying in the school right now."

"Then let's go." I said, and led the two off the premises.

"They've been gone all weekend." Ruby told Weiss. The rest of the team, minus Duncan and Blake, were still gone after two whole days. There was no sign of either of them.

"Blake and Duncan both know how to take care of themselves."

"C'mon Weiss. They're our team mates. We need them." Yang said. She wasn't handling the whole situation well at all. She had been figuring out her feelings for Duncan for a while now. Well, she knew what she felt.

And she really liked him.

But so did Blake. And they both knew he thought rather fondly of them both. And now he was alone with Blake.

They both promised that no matter what happened, they'd remain friends. Yang was never going to break that promise to Blake. But, she wanted to be there when the final verdict was made. She hated being left out of the loop like this.

It was easier for her before she met Duncan. She was a heartbreaker. She could always walk up to a guy one day, date him for a week, then break up and start the whole process all over again. She couldn't do that with Duncan.

With him, he made it difficult. He still showed signs that flirting still affected him. But other than that she couldn't faze him. And all the extraordinary and bizarre things he could do. Yang thought of him as a kindred spirit of a sort. Nothing could keep him down. He walked around like nothing in existence could hurt him. And she admired that. A lot.

She just wanted a chance to talk to him too. To let him know she felt for him, like Blake did.

"Is she, though?" Weiss said. "We all heard what she said. And now she's brought Duncan along with her. And we've never been able to figure out anything of real significance about him. For all we know, he some sort of spy, or traitor, or-or something! We've all met him before we came to Beacon. We know he has secrets."

"That doesn't mean we shouldn't look for him. Or for Blake. They might both explain things to us if we ask them." Yang said, a little angry.

"I just hope they're okay." Ruby said.

We sat there for a few moments, just drinking at a small coffee shop. Blake was the one to break the silence.

"So, you want to know more about me." It wasn't a question. It was a fact. I already knew her backstory, but Sun didn't.

"Finally! She speaks!" He says. "I've got nothing but small talk, some lovey dovey moments between you and him, and weird looks for nearly two days! Yeah, like the one you're both giving me right now."

She dropped her look and asked Sun.

"Are you familiar with the White Fang?"

He was. And he thought very little of them, he made that known. But Blake explained how she was once one of them. Basically raised by the organization her whole life, then grew tired of the violence.

"Okay," He said. "You're not with them anymore. But where's he come in?"

"He helped me escape. He still hasn't told me why."

"You helped her leave?" He asked me.

"Call me something of an admirer. Blake was someone who stood up for what she believed in her whole life. She was passionate about equality. She just didn't agree with using violence to get it. When she couldn't handle it anymore, neither could I. So I helped her run away from it all and we saw each other again a few months later."

"But why?" She asked.

"Soon, Blake." I sighed. "Soon. I won't keep secrets from you for much longer. I promise."

The rest of Team RWBY were still looking for their lost members. They kept calling out their names, hoping they'd turn up soon.

"Weiss, you're not helping." Ruby said.

"You know who might be able to help?" Weiss asked. "The police."

They didn't find that any bit amusing. And started to keep searching.

"I think they should tell us their side of the story before we jump to any conclusions." Yang said.

"And I think when we hear it, you'll both see that I was right." Weiss responded.

"And I think Weiss' hair looks wonderful today." Penny interjected, following the trio.

"AH! Penny! Where did you come from?!" Ruby asked, all of them turning around.

"Hey guys! What are you up to?" Penny asked, ignoring the question.

Yang was the one who answered. "We're looking for our friends Blake and Duncan."

"Oh! You mean the Faunus girl and the Multiverser," She realized.

"Wait. How did you know she was a Faunus?" Ruby asked after a couple seconds.

"Uh, the cat ears."

"What cat ears? Blake wears… a… bow…." Yang slowly said.

"She does like tuna a lot." Ruby remembered after a few seconds.

"Wait a second." Weiss said. "What did you call Duncan?"

"Multiverser. He dropped his phone a couple days ago and there were a few open files. He apparently is writing an on-going book. He called himself that. Here." She said, handing the device over to them.

"Fall from Humanity: Autobiography of 'The Hero That Shouldn't Have Been' by Duncan 'The Multiverser' Williams?" Yang read.

"Yes!" Penny said. "There were over a few thousand locked pages, but a few were open. It was interesting to read how he's actually from a different reality. And that he accidentally discovered the secret to ultimate power and was ripped from his home reality and now exists throughout the multiverse. It seems he no longer sees himself as Human anymore, because he lost his humanity centuries ago. I think it's quite a read."

The girls… were beyond shocked. 'Duncan was… from another reality? And he isn't human anymore?' They all thought.

"You didn't know?" The bright orange haired girl asked.

"N-no, Penny. We didn't. Did we guys?" Ruby asked, and turned to see Weiss and Yang gone.

"Don't worry, my friend. I won't rest until we find your team mates."

"Yeah. Thanks, Penny." Ruby said, still disbelieving at what Duncan was.

"So, what's the plan now?" Sun asked us both.

"We find out who's been stealing dust. I'm with our friend Ruby, Torchwick's definitely involved." I answered. "We'll have to look for where he'll most likely strike next."

"Once we do that, we prove the White Fang aren't involved." Blake added.

"I might have an idea." Sun told us. "I overheard some guys on the ship talking about offloading a huge shipment of dust coming from Atlas."

"How huge?" Blake asked.

"HUGE. Big Schnee Company freighter."

"Then that's our destination." I said. "Let's go."

"Thanks anyway." Yang tiredly said to the owner of the shop she and Weiss just looked through. She still couldn't believe what she now knew about Duncan. And it hurt a little that he hadn't told them yet. But, she remembered what Blake said. 'I think he's hiding something, but not because he doesn't trust us.'

"You really don't care if we find them or not, do you?" She asked Weiss.

"Oh, trust me, I care! They were both keeping huge secrets from all of us! Blake was in the White Fang and Duncan? Oh, don't get me started on him! Right now, I'm furious at all the secrets!"

"But Weiss"- Yang tried to say.

"Innocent people don't hide things like that!" Then she walked away, Yang following shortly afterwards.

"So Blake and Duncan are your friends, right?" Penny asked.

"Yes, ugh, I mean, um, it's just, I don't know." Ruby said. "Neither of them exactly told us much about themselves. They were really quiet about that."

"I don't have a lot of friends. But if I did, I would want them to talk to me about things."

"Me too. But, Duncan… I don't know what's up with him and his huge secret."

"I think he was scared."

"Duncan? Scared?"

"Yeah. He was likely trying to figure out how to explain what he was, but held back because he feared how you'd all take it. He's likely had to do it before in his other lives. I think he just wanted you guys to not hate him."

Ruby contemplated this as they kept searching.

We were there, waiting. All the cargo was there, waiting to be stolen. We wouldn't let that happen.

I wouldn't let that happen.

Sun was gone, stealing food. I and Blake were here, staking out the place for the time being.

I was thinking how to explain to her who I really was. What I really was. I'd have to explain to Yang as well. They both deserved to be the first to know. I just hope they didn't hate me afterwards. It always hurt when people never trusted me after I explained everything about me.

The look of utter betrayal… The felling that they were being used… That they didn't matter in the grand scheme of things… That I was just playing with them… None of that was true, and yet…

It broke me a little more inside each time I saw that happen. I don't think I'll be able to handle if I see it on the faces of the ones I reveal it to in my current lives.

It would destroy what sanity I had left.

"Did I miss anything?" Came Sun's voice as he returned, apples in his arms.

"Not really. They offloaded the crates a while ago, now they're just sitting there." Blake told him.

"Cool." He handed us some of the fruit. "I stole you guys some food."

"Do you always break the law without a second thought?" Blake asked him.

"Hey, weren't you in a cult, or something?" He retorted. She didn't like that. "Okay, too soon."

The wind rushed above us as carriers flew in the sky, preparing to load off men to steal the dust.

Once people started coming out, our suspicions were confirmed.

"Oh, no."

"Is that them?" Sun asked Blake.

"Yes."

"You really didn't think they were behind it, did you?"

"No." She sighed. "Deep down I knew, I just didn't want to be right." I put my hand on her shoulder.

"And there's Roman." I pointed out.

He was there, like I knew he'd be. He was ordering around the Fang, insulting them the whole time. Blake, was not taking it well.

"This isn't right." She said, standing up. "The White Fang would never work with a Human. Especially not one like that." She pulled out _Gambol Shroud_. I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Blake, no."

"Duncan, you can't expect me to"-

"I, will deal with this. I've been tracking him for a while now. Don't worry, I won't kill any of the Fang. But I'm taking him down tonight, and I won't let you get in the crossfire." She still hesitated, so I took a hold of her arms and kissed her. "Please."

"…Okay." She quietly said.

I teleported away, preparing to take down this despot. I was gonna have fun while I was at it.

"I guess you guys have sorted out your feelings now?" Sun asked her with a smirk.

She was still a little bit shocked. "I, I don't know. There's someone else that he and I need to talk with. She likes him too. And, heh, I guess the share option is still possible."

"Are you freaking kidding me?!" Sun asked, a little outraged. "Lucky bastard. Wait, why do I hear music?"

**Queue "Shoot To Thrill" by AC/DC**

"It means he's in his zone." Blake said, a little lovingly.

"Ruby, do you hear the music coming from the docks?" Penny asked the hooded girl.

"Yeah." Weird music suddenly playing when no band was in town? Looks like they found Duncan. "We should get there, quick."

"Weiss, I think I know where they are."

"Follow the music?"

"Follow the music." Yang confirmed. She hoped she could still speak to Duncan, she wanted that at least.

As the kickass song started to play, I slowly started to walk toward Roman and his goons. They hadn't seen me yet.

"What is with the music?" The crime lord asked. Then they saw me, doing a small dance in front of them. Within range.

"_I'm gonna take you down-_

_Down, down, down._

_So don't you fool around._

_I'm gonna pull it, pull it…"_

I pulled out _Samantha_ in my right hand, _Machina_ in my left. And took aim.

"…_Pull the trigger!"_

And opened fire.

I didn't fire to kill. I promised Blake I wouldn't. I only shot to disable and anyone that got close enough, I knocked out.

Torchwick was firing at me too, from a distance. Every Dust ball he fired got shot in mid-air. It was starting to make him real nervous.

More carriers arrived, offloading more of the Fang. They were still no match for me, but their arsenal was getting better. Explosive weapons were being used more often. Eventually, a flurry of rockets came my way.

And hit me.

Torchwick was laughing. He wouldn't be when he noticed me. Which he just did.

"_Cause I,_

_Shoot to Thrill._

_Play it again._

_Yeah."_

Fire was all around me, making me a look like I was the Devil himself. It petrified the criminal.

All the others had found us. I could hear them approaching.

"So, Hot-shot?" I turned to see Yang ask. "Need a hand?"

I could see more of the White Fang, slowly getting back up.

"The more the merrier."

And so Team RWBY was back together. Sun and Penny were welcome additions. None of the men were capable of fighting once we all were finished with them. Torchwick was on the ground, backing up as fast as he could away from me as the music ended.

"Look, there's no real reason we can't work this out. I'm a business man. That's all this was. Just business. And you look like a reasonable fellow. I'm sure we could figure something out to benefit us all. So what do you say?" He pleaded.

I stopped. 'What do I say?'

This man was a hardened criminal. The kind I've always despised. The kind of person that emulated everything I hated about mankind. He'd have killed us all, and laughed the entire time.

He was willing to kill Ruby.

He would've killed Weiss, given the chance.

And he'd have murdered Blake and Yang without a second thought.

All in the name of business. Of greed.

I give him my answer. At least, _Bright Shadow_ did.

As his head rolled to the ground, I walked to pick it up. No one said anything.

I raised Torchwick's head up to the Fang as they got up. They stared, horrified.

"I, am, The Multiverser!" I told them. "I, AM, POWER!"

I pointed my sword at them.

"**CINDER! IS! NEXT!"** I foretold. And they ran.

The others moved to stop them.

"No." I said. "Let them go. A few will quit, and others will make sure my message reaches who it's supposed to."

They silently acknowledged my request. Some of them would be caught anyway. No preventing that. And we waited for the cops to show up.

Blake and Weiss made up. Penny was missing. And everyone was back together. But, I didn't know what to do now. So I stayed a distance away from them.

I let my anger get ahold of me and executed Torchwick in front of them all. Then used his head as a means to send a message.

If they wouldn't be scared of me for what I was, they'd be scared of me for what I just did. What kind of person was I, to just do that? They shouldn't have seen me that way. I never wanted people to see the rage I held inside myself for so long, even back home. The knowledge of all the bad things happening at all times, in the past, present, and future.

I hated that it was just allowed to go on. That people just ignored it.

I was no Hero. I shouldn't have been.

My team slowly approached, slightly cautious. I could understand. I was in a volatile state right now.

"Duncan," Yang started to say. "We know."

'What?'

"We, we know who you are… What you are." Blake said.

'No. No no no no no…. This isn't happening.'

"Penny found your phone a couple days ago. Your, story was open." Ruby told me.

'No… Please. Please, don't hate me…'

"And we just told Blake." Weiss said.

'Just, make it quick please… I can't handle this.'

"And we don't care." They all said.

'…What?'

"You've been with us from the beginning, pushing us all to be the best we could be and beyond." Ruby told me.

"It was hard to hear at first, but we've had time to think it over. And you've been doing everything you could to make us the best team possible." Weiss said.

"You've been there for us, but you haven't let us be there for you. And you've been trying to teach us to help each other. That means you should accept some too. And we want to give that to you." Blake said, kneeling at my side while Yang was at the other.

"You're a cool guy, Duncan. We care about you. So just let us show you that we appreciate all you've done for us. You're better when you're not depressed anyway." She told me.

I… didn't know what to say. I never anticipated this… I should have. This was an understanding team. I just expected them to be like normal people. They weren't normal.

They were Team RWBY.

That's better than normal.

"We'd still like you to tell us the story. What made you the way you are? What made you, not human anymore?"

"… Everyone, take a seat. This could take a little while." They all sat around me and I took a deep breath.

"My name was Duncan Williams once…" **(A/N I'll be updating The Curse of Absolute Power soon, to give the dark story of how I've lost my humanity. I'll be referring to it whenever I reveal that story to whoever my companions are in any reality. As soon as the site fixes this stupid 'Manage Stories' problem that is!)**

Ozpin sat in a limousine, next to where it all happened. He was still trying to sort out everything that happened in his head. His scroll beeps. A message from Qrow appears.

'Queen has pawns.' He stares at it for a few seconds. Then he responds.

'Knight has killed the King.'

After I laid out my past to the girls it was time to sleep.

When I entered my room, I wasn't alone for long.

"Duncan, can we come in?" I heard Blake ask. We?

"Sure, it's open." Blake then walked in, with Yang.

"Uh, this is a trap. Isn't it?"

"No, Duncan. It's not." Yang told me.

"But we are putting an end to some confusion." Blake said.

'That, sounded final. I don't know if I'm gonna like this or not.'

"Duncan," Blake started. "For the past few months, you've… had a rather large effect on us both."

"And we didn't know how to deal with it."

"Until now."

'Ohhh, that sounds really weird.'

"We've been sorting out our feelings over the last two weeks, and we've been talking." Blake told me.

"We like you. But, we don't want to fight over you." Yang said. That's good and all, but why are they- "So, we're gonna share you."

Oh.

OH.

OH, SAY WHAT NOW!?

"But, you two, that… it's not, wha…?" I stuttered out.

"I told you he'd react like this." Blake said, smirking a little.

"He's fine. Besides, he's not like other guys. He's way different. I think he can handle us both." Yang told her, getting up and locking the door. I, don't know if I actually can right now. Given my current mental state.

"But…" I tried to say as they closed in on me.

"No buts tonight, Mr. Multiverse. Just ours. Now shut up and enjoy this already." Yang ordered me.

"Amen to that." Blake purred.

No one interrupted us for the rest of the night. Or morning, for that matter.

"He-he cut off Roman's head ma'am. Then he called himself, the Multiverser. He knows about you… and he says you're next." Said a traumatized member of the White Fang to Cinder Falls and her associates.

"Disappointing." She said. "We had big plans for Roman. With him gone, we'll need to look around for a replacement. But, this Multiverser? He's a threat. We're going to have to deal with it. And fast." She turned to her partners. "Find out everything you can on Duncan Verser."

**Well, that's it for now. Until volume 2 comes out, this fic won't be receiving many updates. Sorry to say. That frees up my time for the other fics however. I'd like to thank you all for your support. It was not easy figuring out how to post this. Review, comment, and tell me how I'm doing. Until volume 2, I'm VindictiveDunc and Thank you, Thank you very much.**


	8. Adjusting and Explaining

Chapter 8: Adjusting and Explaining

**Just cause I said this fic wouldn't be updated that often, doesn't mean I won't update it anyway with at least one filler. Hope I'll be decent at these. Enjoy… or don't. And if you don't, why have you read this far into the story?**

"Well, that was a thing."

"…. Uh huh…"

"You know we're gonna do that again, right? Multiple times."

"….Uh huh…"

"You know for a guy who's done just about everything, you'd think you could process what just happened last night, and half an hour ago, much better."

"…Yeah… you'd think that, but, here we are."

Yang just smirked. She and Blake had just confessed to both having rather strong feelings for me last night. They then proceeded to tell me that I now belonged to both of them. And I brain-farted at first.

Don't get me wrong, I still participated in what just happened. But now it was starting to actually sink in. I have two girlfriends here, two beautiful girlfriends, at the same time, and both of them were aware. Encouraged it even.

'This will take getting used to.'

"Well, I'm hungry. Is there anything I can snack on right now?"

Yang was the only one awake right now. Blake was still in the bed, snuggled up against me. She'd probably wake up soon. Or she'd sleep in. We had a free day today, so we didn't have to worry about classes. Or other students catching onto… what we… just… did…

Oh, crap. I hated gossip. I hated gossip about me. Yang probably would laugh it off. Blake would be mostly indifferent. But me? What if the others found out?

What if Ruby found out?

Oh, and I know she'll find out. My dorm is right next to hers and the girls. I sound-proofed the walls after the _Comatose_ incident, but they'd figure out what was going on behind closed doors if they saw Blake and Yang coming in here more often at night.

"Hello? Remnant to Duncan? I'm talking to you."

"Yeah, there's a fridge right there. I actually eat here most of the time instead of in the cafeteria anyway."

"Thanks."

Blake was starting to stir. "Hey." I said.

"Hey." She said, tiredly smiling. Then she noticed Yang. "We really just did that, didn't we?"

"Yep."

"Well, I knew what I was getting into. I'm not backing out now."

"You don't look the type to do that anyway." I leaned in to kiss her real quick, but…

"What the hell!?"

Yang's mind just registered the contents of my fridge.

"What is all this? There's actual good food in here! Not the crap we get from the cafeteria! Eggs, pancake batter, steak, seafood, ice cream, cake, etc. Where do you get all this stuff?"

"I can do whatever I want Yang. If I want to make good food appear out of thin air? I'll do it."

"Seafood?" Blake asked. That got her attention. And she slowly got out of the bed to see if it was true.

It was. I've got a massive preference for seafood. Lobster, shrimp, salmon, that kind of thing. Ruby has said Blake really likes tuna. I'm pretty sure she'll like the different kinds of fish I have in there.

"You do realize we're eating here from now on, right?" Yang asked me.

"Of course you are."

"Why do you have all this stuff anyway? Doesn't it clash with that whole wandering Samurai thing you try to give yourself?"

"I like having stuff. So I have stuff. I like good food. So I eat good food. Get the picture? I can't get fat anyway, no matter how much I eat."

"I know we're sleeping together now and everything, but I kinda hate you when you tell me stuff like that."

"What? Don't tell me you're obsessed over not getting fat! If you're that scared, I can just make it so that you'll keep your figure no matter how much you eat." They both turned their heads at that. 'Oh, what have I just done?'

"You, you mean you're telling me, that you can just make it, that we can never get fat? That we can keep eating from this fridge, and not gain a single bit of excess weight?"

"Uh, yeah? Absolute power over reality, remember?" I hesitantly said.

They got a little twinkle in their eyes. Oh I know that look, I definitely know that look. They were wearing it last night right before they tag-teamed me.

"Heh-heh-heh. Oh, would you look at the time?" I said, pointing at a nonexistent watch. Then I high-tailed it out of there, just as they lunged at me.

"You have to come back here sometime~!" Came Yang's sing song voice as I reached the end of the hallway. "You can't avoid us forever~."

I could try. For a little bit. Just long enough to relax without using my body in numerous ways to do so.

Thank the stars I still had clothes on. I would be in so much trouble if anyone caught me in my birthday suit. I decided the library was a good place to go. Nice, quiet, maybe read a good book real quick. Before Blake gets here with a similar mind set.

I saw Jaune and Ren at one of the tables. I figured it'd be nice to just sit down and talk for a little while. They noticed me walking over. Specifically my attire.

"Any particular reason you're still in your pajamas? In the library?" Ren asked.

"Oh, this?" I laughed. "Tsk, no real reason. Why would I need a reason? There's no reason. Why do you ask questions? There is absolutely no"-

"Duncan!" Jaune said. "Take a deep breath."

I did so. "What's new with you guys? I asked, trying to avoid the subject.

"Nothing much, life can be rather boring here. You've seen the stuff we go through daily."

Jaune had a point. For a school that teaches kids how to hunt monsters, there was a lot of normal school things in this place. Very similar classes too. Just the added bonus of ones that teach us how to kill Grimm thrown in the mix.

"Now, why are you in your pajamas?" Ren asked again. I sighed.

"I was in a special… situation, last night. I accidentally said something I probably shouldn't have let slip this morning, so I had to leave my room in a hurry."

"What did you let slip?"

"I might, _might_, be able to… make it so girls can't get fat." I mumbled at the end.

They still heard that, though. "Are you freaking kidding me?" Jaune said. "You're already powerful enough. If any girl catches wind of that, every guy in existence will likely hate you. And we all know Blake and Yang like you- It was them that found out, wasn't it?" I reluctantly nodded.

"Yep."

"Wait a minute." Ren said. "You said you had to flee from your room? What were Blake and Yang doing in your room?" I didn't say anything.

I could see the gears in their heads working as the realization came to them. 'Me and my big mouth. Why am I not in control of myself right now?! I've never been this bad at handling secrets ever since I was, in high school. I'm acting more like I was back in high school. Prefect, just perfect!'

Ruby and Weiss picked that time to enter the library. 'It keeps getting better and better!' I sarcastically thought.

"Hey, Duncan." Ruby said. "Do you know where Yang and Blake"-

"No, I don't! Gotta go!"

You know what it's like to go to extreme measures to avoid people for a little while. A guy like me can do some crazy things when he wants to. Crawling on the ceiling like Spider-Man to avoid detection from my new girlfriends was one of those thing.

"Spider-Man, Spider-Man. Does whatever a spider can. Is he scared? Yes, he is. Of his two, girlfriends. Look out~ somebody save me!" I quietly sang.

"Be sure not to track dirt up there, if you can."

I looked down to see Ozpin, coffee mug in hand.

"Sorry, just needed some personal space."

"While I can understand that on most days, I need to talk to you." I dropped down.

"What's wrong?"

"Last night. When you and Ms. Belladonna came back."

"You were there at the docks." I didn't ask. I knew he was there.

"I was. I also know you were the one who killed Torchwick."

"I'm sorry, but what he was doing was wrong and I knew he would have killed us all given the chance. I also knew he had plans to attack Beacon soon. I don't think I've stopped that from happening, but I've slowed it down. I'm sorry, I let myself get angry at some things he said and lost control of myself for a bit. It won't happen again."

"I'm not judging you. I know Roman was a bad man right up until he died. While the plan to attack Beacon was something I had expected a little, I had no idea you knew this. Where did you learn that?"

"I've been keeping tabs on him." I lied. "Not enough to figure out what exactly it is he was planning, but enough to know this place would be attacked soon. I also know he was working with someone named Cinder Falls, though she was the one running the operation for the most part. Still is, most likely."

"I'd suspected as much."

"Anything I should know, sir?"

"Not yet. You've become involved, I won't deny that. But I'll feel better telling you what I know once I've got more information on what's going on. When I know that, I'll tell you."

"Fair enough." And he walked away, drinking his coffee on the way to wherever it was he was going.

'Good. Now that that's out of the way, I can focus on more important things. Such as'-

"Oh, Duncan. I found you."

The fact that Yang is right behind me.

Her arms were already around me and she said, "You, me, and Blake have some things we need to really discuss right now." Then she pulled me through the surprisingly empty hallways, right back to my room.

After giving them the whole 'you will never get fat' thing, the rest of our time went by rather quietly.

"You know, something's been bugging me." Yang said. "When you explained to us what you were last night, you mentioned 'improving the stories that you so adored,' right? Does that mean our lives are just a story back where you come from?" Blake wanted to know this too.

"We perceived it as such. An internet show called RWBY. Now before you get any notion that your lives are meaningless, let me explain. When a story like that is being showed to us, it is real. My world, however, is only able to perceive it as fictional. You are all very real."

"However, destiny plays a larger role in your lives. What we are allowed to see in the show, are scripted events. They serve a purpose. Everything that we don't see, is yours. You are in control of yourselves. Yes, the story whenever it is made is it being made in my home reality. That means there are people there that sound like you. That's thanks to the 'creators' of these stories."

"When someone thinks up a story like RWBY, they are actually being given insight in the multiverse. What they see as their own imagination, is more like prophecy. When others see these stories and imagine their own ways that they expect it to end or add new things, that's creating a new reality."

"Those people are making new realities where destiny plays a larger role in most cases. And there are thousands of new realities like those being made at all times."

"Now, sometimes people accidently, or purposefully, get themselves into these worlds. These are Multiversers, or what I like to call 'The Misplaced,' however they aren't aware most of the time. Their power will be locked away unless they somehow discover it. Sometimes, they get bits and pieces of it, which cause them to subconsciously change reality around them, like bringing in people from other realities or giving themselves powers."

"However, just because I just altered you, doesn't mean you can become a Multiverser. You and every other Yang and Blake, are all in 'scripted' realities. Only people from 'non-scripted' realities can become Multiversers. We can empower those who are scripted, temporarily or otherwise, but I try to avoid that."

"Why?" Blake asked.

"You have enough most of the time. I try to teach you and others like you how to better yourselves, physically and mentally."

"Speaking of mental, that whole multiple lives at once thing? How does that work?" Yang asked.

"Think of it as similar to split personality disorder. All these other live are me, and I am them. We exist all the same time, we are always aware of each other. We'll each have more profound quirks then another might have, but we all possess the same mind set. They each do their own thing, the way that I would if I was in their position. And they can do so without damaging the way all things are."

"Eventually, we hope that there will be no more boundaries between realities. That we can all interact with one another, see our heroes, our inspirations, our 'creations.' It will be a long process, though. New realities are always being created. It will take a long time before that dream will happen. It's the endgame of the Multiverse, I believe. I know it has an endgame for that, but I don't have the privilege of knowing yet. I will one day."

"Does that answer everything you were going to ask?"

"You told us a lot more than what we were expecting." Blake said.

"It's not like we said give us an oral essay. We just wanted to know if we were 'real' or not. But, yeah. I think that covers just about all we wanted to know." Yang told me. "Now, I want to give this whole 'never get fat' thing a test run. And you're going to give us a three course meal to prove it. If it doesn't work, you better be ready to help us get rid of it. And if it does work… We'll still probably do what I had in mind to work it all off anyway."

"You kind of doomed yourself when you mentioned this whole thing in the morning. When you showed her the fridge, actually." Blake told me.

I sighed. "Well, I better get cooking." Why is it whenever a guy like me ends up in a new reality, he ends up hooking up with one or more very beautiful women from that reality? Then, they own him. I don't understand why that is always the case.

Does anyone know why that is always the case?!

**Okay. **_**Now**_** this fic won't be receiving updates until volume 2. I hope this chapter was comical. The initial idea just got stuck in my head and I couldn't get it out! I just had to write it! I hope you enjoyed it, and that the Whole Multiverse/Multiverser explanation cleared up any confusion and added some decent background info. Tell me what you think!**


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